"Influential people" among those who have mining lease:

There was a long list of people from inside and outside the House and ex-MLAs, who have stone crushers and have taken mining leases in the state, Himachal Pradesh Industries Minister Mukesh Agnihotri told the state Assembly today.
Replying to a question of independent member Manohar Dhiman, Agnihotri said mining was the business of few people and "many influential people are involved in it".
"The issue is often raised by the people who have their own stone crushers to build regular pressure on the department," he said.
The minister said 577 hectares of land in the state had been leased for mining at present and there were set norms for mining.

As many as309 stone crushers have been sanctioned in the state and out of these, 138 are functional and 171 are non-functional.
He said there were problems in mining till sometime back, but the issue had been sorted now and permission for mining on land upto 5 hectares would be given at the district-level, from 5 to 50 hectares at the state-level.
The cases with land above 50 hectares would be sent to the Centre for approval, he said.
The minister said the state government had implemented strict provisions against illegal mining last year which attractedtwo years imprisonment apart from fine, depending upon the gravity of the violation.