Over 150 mining leases to lapse today

Miners say time left to get approvals and lease deeds not enough

The mining lease approvals of more than 150 major mineral deposits of iron ore, bauxite, manganese, lime stone and dolomite are set to lapse on Wednesday due to lack of forest and environment clearances, required for execution of a lease deed.

Following repeated appeals from the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries and the mines ministry, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) had on January 4, 2017, announced a notification waiving environment clearance for execution of a lease deed. The next day, it relaxed norms for forest clearance as well. However, there are only four official working days between the notifications