Licences to import marble blocks are being traded at Rs10,000 a tonne and babus in the Union ministry of commerce and directorate-general of foreign trade are perpetrating a scam which is bigger than the 2G spectrum scam, alleged JB Surana, president of All India Granites and Stone Association (AIGSA).
The current market demand for marble blocks in India is approximately 10 lakh tonnes and the government has issued import licences to take care of just three lakh tonnes, creating a shortage of rough dimensional blocks. This has resulted in licenses being traded at Rs10,000 a tonne in the black market, Surana said.
The present policy has become a big hurdle for the growth of Indian granite industry while favouring China, he said, and demanded that the Union government must come out with a liberalised national policy to import marble blocks.
Meanwhile, members of the AIGSA have decided to expose the corrupt practices in the Union ministry of commerce and directorate-general of foreign trade by approaching the newly-constituted Lokpal Committee members including co-chairman Anna Hazare. “The AIGSA will makea detailed presentation to the committee on how the bureaucracy and handful of licence holders are selling the licences in the black market at a premium,’ Surana said.
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