Shimla: Himachal Pradesh government has decided to lift the night curfew following a significant drop in new Covid-19 cases. The decision was taken during the cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur here on Wednesday. However, restrictions on gatherings will remain in force. All social, religious, cultural, political, and other congregations, including marriages and funerals, will be permitted with 50 percent of the capacity, both in indoor and outdoor areas. The state government had imposed the night curfew on January 5 to check the spread of the pandemic.
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The cabinet also approved amendments in the Himachal Pradesh Minor Minerals (Concession) and Minerals (Prevention of Illegal Mining, Transportation and Storage) Rules, 2015 to ensure optimum use of minor minerals. It would facilitate the easy availability of minerals such as stones and sand, particularly in rural areas for construction purposes.
It was decided that Mining Officers will grant permission for the use of minor minerals generated during the construction of roads, exclusively for captive use (in-situ) in the same work up to the extent of 10,000 MT per month at a time and not exceeding 20,00 MT per work on the report of Engineer in Charge of the work, not below the rank of Assistant Engineer.
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The Cabinet also approved a rule providing that if any person not being a mining lease holder and not violated rules and could not provide transit form, shall be liable to pay royalty at the applicable rates and penalty at the rate of 25 percent of royalty applicable.
