Making a special exception, the Cabinet has approved a grey granite mining contract without auction, which Mines & Geology Minister Murugesh Nirani said will create over 5,000 jobs.
On Thursday, the Cabinet gave its nod for the Maddakkanahalli Stone Cutters Cooperative Society to carry out grey granite mining on survey number 12 in Maddakkanahalli in Sira, Tumakuru district.
“The Cabinet took the unanimous decision to approve the mining contract sans auction by considering it as a special case keeping in mind the larger public interest,” Nirani’s office said in a statement.
This approval was given on humanitarian grounds as the society was not even in a position to register itself due to a financial crisis, the statement added.
Originally, the society got the mining contract for five years in 1995 and it was later renewed for 20 years. However, the society got entangled in a financial crisis and was unable to register itself within the mandatory 4-month time frame. The Cabinet decision comes after several years of delay in decision-making.
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