Ministry of Mines pitches for quick green clearances

In a recent presentation put before Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Ministry of Mines stressed on the need to expedite the process of granting environmental clearances to revive the crises-hit sector and instill confidence in investors.

Sources told Deccan Herald that Anup K Pujari, Ministry of Mines Secretary, said in a recent presentation that expediting the process of giving clearances was vital for the increase of mineral production and would build a stronger system to monitor illegal mining.

Pujari also mentioned the need to strengthen the Indian Bureau of Mines and the
Geological Survey of India.

The pending Mines and Mineral Development and Regulation Bill, which failed to get a nod from Parliament during the previous UPA regime, was also discussed during the meeting.

The Bill aims at the development and regulation of mining in the country. After illegal-mining scams hit many mineral-rich states, including Karnataka, state governments were reluctant to grant fresh leases which led to the piling up of a large number of licence applications.

Around 99,000 cases of illegal mining were reported in 20 states between 2012 and 2013. In 2011-12, there were 96,000 such cases and about 78,000 in 2010-11.

According to Mines ministry data, over 60,000 mineral concession applications are pending.

Of the total applications, 42,861 are for mining leases (ML), 19,891 for prospecting licences (PL) and 643 for reconnaissance permits (RP).

In Karnataka alone, a total of 19,497 applications are pending out of which 16,446 are MLs. While granting PLs and RPs in a region is mainly for exploratory purposes, the latter is specific to only regional, aerial and geophysical surveys to look at mineral prospects.