Chandigarh, May 7 -- Punjab government on Tuesday said that the new mining policy fundamentally shifts the control of sand and gravel resources directly into the hands of the people by allowing individual landowners to do mining after obtaining permission from the mining department.

This will effectively curb corruption and significantly increase state revenue, said finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema and mining and geology minister Barinder Goyal.

Cheema and Goyal also unveiled standardised online application forms for landowner mining sites (LMS) and crusher mining sites (CRMS) on the official Punjab mining portal.

Cheema said the key highlight of the new policy is the empowerment of landowners as under this revamped framework, land...