Govt directs states to grant mining nod soon

The Centre has asked the states to give early permission for mining to companies which have gotten clearance  from the Ministry of Mines.

As per the guideline issued, once the Ministry of Mines gives its nod for any application seeking approval for granting of either prospecting licence (PL) or a mining licence, the concerned state should issue a grant order to the applicant at the earliest.

The guideline also advises the states to grant final permission within a month’s time from getting Ministry of Mines approval. At present,  the timelines for disposal of reconnaisance permits are within six months, PL within nine months and mining leases within twelve months.

Concerned over pending applications, the ministry wants to reduce the existing timeline so that the firms, which have the permission from the ministry, get approval at the earliest. As per the ministry, around 65,000 applications for grants of PL and mining leases are pending with several states including Karnataka, Goa, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh,  Gujarat, Jharkhand and Orissa. 

Earlier,  Principal Secretary to the prime minister Nripendra Misra wrote to Mines Secretary Anup K Pujari asking him to streamline the system of granting permission.  
 Aiming to introduce transparency in granting permissions,  the ministry is also planning to adopt e-auction for allotment major minerals like iron ore and manganese block to private firms for excavation of ore. 

Union Steel and Mines Minister Narendra Singh Tomar  held a meeting with chief ministers of several states about the introduction of technology-based transparent system for allocating mineral deposits with strong regulatory framework.

To enable it to adopt transparent system to allot natural resources, the ministry is planning to introduce e-auction for mining deposits in the pending Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act.