The Bengal government has green-lit the mining minor minerals — sand, pebbles and stones — from riverbeds of the state from October 8.

For the past few months, extraction of such items from riverbeds had stopped following instructions of the National Green Tribunal. In July this year, the Mamata Banerjee cabinet came up with a new policy that centralised the auction system for mining such items.

According to an order from state secretary H.K. Dwivedi, from October 8, mining of minor minerals can resume. Confirming this, Moumita Godara Basu, the district magistrate of Jalpaiguri, said those intending to mine will have to procure e-challan or permission from the state.

“Officials of transport department have been asked to train truck owners on how to obtain e-challan. It is mandatory,” she said.

The order has come as a relief for lakhs of workers, who load and unload these basic construction items, and thousands of truck drivers and owners. “It is almost six months now that we have not found a contractor to hire our trucks to carry construction items. It is good if the state has finally decided to allow mining on riverbeds,” said Sanjib Ghosh, secretary of Jalpaiguri United Truck Owners’ Welfare Association.

Under the old system, auctions of specific areas of riverbeds were done by district magistrates but under the new policy, it was decided that the West Bengal Mining Development & Trading Corporation, under the state industries department, will hold the auctions. The process will be monitored by the chief secretary and finance secretary.

Ghosh, who is also the state vice-president of the Federation of West Bengal Truck Operators’ Association, said over one lakh trucks are engaged in transfer of these materials in north Bengal. “There are over five lakh workers who load and unload them. All are jobless,” he added.

Earlier in the day, before the state order became known, protests by workers and truck drivers were seen in at least two locations of north Bengal.

In Alipurduar town, they blocked a road on Chowpathi for over an hour. There was a similar protest at Tufanganj-II block of Cooch Behar on the banks of Raidak river.

Additional reporting by our Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar correspondents