The Punjab Mining Department is gearing up to implement a new digital management system aimed at plugging loopholes in mineral accounting and transportation. The sources told The Tribune that the department has begun an exercise to measure and record the existing stocks of minor minerals lying at stone crushing units in Ropar district.The district has 171 stone crushers. The move is being seen as an important first step towards establishing inventory before the new Punjab Mining Management System (PMMS) is fully operationalised.The Punjab Government launched the PMMS portal earlier this month with the objective of bringing the entire mining chain under a unified digital framework. Mines and Geology Minister Barinder Kumar Goyal had said the system would enable end to end monitoring of mining activity, from extraction and transportation to processing at crushers and final delivery to consumers.The department’s decision to verify existing stocks in Ropar assumes significance against the backdrop of allegations that illegally mined material is being mixed with legally sourced material and subsequently sold through the formal supply chain.According to sources, the quantity of material lying at crushers is being measured so that the department can establish the stock available with individual units before the new digital tracking mechanism takes effect. The exercise is expected to help authorities compare future purchases, production and dispatches with the opening stock recorded by the department.According to a Punjab Pollution Control Board report submitted before the NGT, Ropar has 171 stone crushers. Of the 153 units inspected, only 10 were found fully compliant with environmental norms, while 71 were found non compliant and 55 partially compliant. Seventeen units were reported closed, while 18 were yet to be inspected.The PMMS is expected to provide the mining department with significantly greater control over the movement of material. The system envisages digital payments linked with the Integrated Financial Management System. Vehicles transporting minerals are proposed to be linked with VAHAN. FASTag, automatic number plate recognition cameras at check posts are also part of the technology architecture.The sources said that the department plans to integrate crusher units with PSPCL smart meters so that electricity consumption can be used as an additional indicator for monitoring production.The digital system comes at a time when the mining department has been grappling with allegations of illegal material being passed off as legally sourced. The alleged use of fake GST bills was sourced from firms in Himachal Pradesh to show illegally mined sand and gravel from Punjab as material procured legally was under investigation.Only one legal mining site, NK-1, was operational in the Anandpur Sahib subdivision, with official records showing sales of 96,098 tonnes of sand and gravel during the preceding year. Estimates however, indicated that crushers in the region had processed nearly 15 times that quantity, raising questions over the source of the additional material.The government has claimed that the PMMS will cover the complete life cycle of a mining site, including planning under the District Survey Report, applications, environmental clearances, consents, extraction, transportation, processing and delivery. Records relating to a mining site are proposed to remain digitally available from commencement to closure.The executive engineer mining Anandpur Sahib Bhavik Sharma was not available for comments despite repeated calls and WhatsApp messages on his mobile phone.