Daltonganj: Four sand ghats in Palamu were e-auctioned for a combined Rs 26.58 crore on Friday, reviving large-scale sand ghat auctions in the district after more than a decade.District mining officer Sunil Kumar said on Saturday that 13 bidders took part, many of them from Palamu. The minimum bid for each ghat was fixed at Rs 1.29 crore. In one case, bidding stretched to the 50th round before final settlement.Official records show Lalgarh fetched the highest bid at Rs 11.56 crore, followed by Misir Patra at Rs 6.16 crore, Barwaiyya at Rs 5.25 crore and Kabra Kalan at Rs 3.61 crore. All four ghats are on Amanat and North Koel rivers and fall under category-II, meant for commercial sand extraction.Officials said the leases are for five years, but mining will remain barred during the annual National Green Tribunal ban from June 10 to Oct 15.Kumar said Palamu has no notified sand ghats in scheduled areas, where extraction would require gram sabha approval. He said the long pause in auctions was partly because sand prices in Jharkhand were higher than in neighbouring Bihar.Officials said the state’s revised auction policy is more industry-friendly, with a security deposit fixed at 10% of the bid amount. Successful bidders must pay 50% of the auction value before extraction starts and the rest in two instalments.Kumar said the auctions will boost district revenue and help curb illegal sand mining. Operations can begin only after bidders obtain environmental, pollution control and other statutory clearances, besides completing public hearings.
