Image used for representative purpose only. Credit: Sumaira Abdulali
Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha on Thursday (March 12, 2026) unequivocally asserted that the companies, which have surrendered sand mining leases, will not be allowed to participate in the fresh tender for allotment of sand mining lease in the State.
The companies have surrendered their sand mining leases for 78 sand ghats to the department citing massive losses in the financial year 2025-2026, said Mr. Sinha who also holds mines and geology department in the State.
“Surrendering the leases has caused a revenue loss to the tune of around ₹700 crore to the department,” Mr. Sinha said during the press conference in Patna.
He further said: “We will not allow them to participate in the fresh tender that will be floated to award lease for these (78) ghats. They will not be able to participate in the bidding even if they change their names or their companies’ names. We are going to change our policy to blacklist these companies. “
Accompanied by Department’s Secretary Divesh Sehara, Mines Director Manesh Kumar Meena, Mr. Sinha said that these companies had procured the sand mining lease after making a bid at a price which was exorbitantly higher.
“They did it to make quick money through illegal mining but they could not do so because of the department’s strictness to check illegal mining and overloading which led them to surrender lease of ghats,” Mr. Sinha claimed.
These companies and people will also be identified for taking further necessary action against them besides seizing their security deposits, the minister added.
During the media interaction , Mr. Sinha transferred at the click of a button a total of ₹37 lakh into the bank accounts of 71 informants as part of the department’s initiative “Bihari Yoddha Purashkar” launched to check illegal mining and overloading.
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Those providing information on illegal mining, transportation and overloading by tractor will receive ₹5,000 while those giving information about illegal movement by truck will be rewarded with ₹10,000.
Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had launched the initiative to encourage public participation to check illegal mining, transportation and overloading and catch the erring persons.
Mr. Sinha said that these “Yoddhas”- whose details are not shared because of their safety reasons- have played an important role in checking illegal mining and overloading of vehicles, making Bihar the first state in the country to take such an initiative.
Stating that the department had collected ₹1600 crore revenue in 2021-22 which increased to much more than double to ₹3536 crore in 2024-25, Mr. Sinha exuded confidence that the department will easily meet its revenue target collections of ₹3800 crore as it has, so far, raked in more than ₹3000 crore.
The department expects to collect ₹200 to ₹300 crore in the month of March besides the department expects to get ₹500 to ₹600 from other work departments, he said.
Published – March 13, 2026 05:38 am IST
