On Saturday, the Ministry of environment and forestry and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) approved the 60 bajari mining leases. With the approval, the bajri costs are likely to drop sharply which has increased to Rs one lakh a truck. After the Supreme Court’s (SC) conditional approval, nearly six mines have been made functional in the state. Of the 82 large leases, which had been denied by the SC in 2016, the empowered committee had suggested 70 for their approval. The SC had declared that the sand mine leaseholders are not allowed to do mining without the permission of the environmental clearance MoEF&CC. Subodh Agarwal, ACS, Mines and petroleum, told the media that the permission will end the scarcity of sand for the development of homes and buildings and would lower the costs of the construction material. At the same time, the unauthorised mining of sand will come to an end. The permission was given on Saturday, and the state government will be obtaining the letters on Monday or Tuesday. In the meantime, the state government had surged the validity of the leases from 13 months to 68 months for their smooth operation. In the absence of sand, many development projects suffered in the past. Even the government had to take special measures for leading infrastructure and industrial projects under construction in the state. The high costs of sand additionally augmented the construction cost. Image Source Also read: Bihar government begins environmental audit of sand ghats