Centre, states to discuss green nod to mines on Tuesday

The Centre has directed the states to furnish details of mine leases that are stuck because of environment or forest clearances, which will be discussed at a high-level meeting this week.

The issue will be taken up at the next meeting of the Coordination-cum-Empowered Committee (CEC), chaired by the Union mines secretary, on the development and regulation of minerals in the country. CEC meeting is scheduled on December 15.

The Centre has asked states to come up with a list of all mining cases in which environmental clearance or forest clearance is pending, the mines ministry said in a communication to the states earlier this month. The states have also been directed to list all the cases where approval was granted but a mining lease was not executed, as well as mines where work had not started due to want of clearances.

Besides, the Centre will also take up the block-wise status and overall preparedness for mineral auction with the state governments.

Parliament passed the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2015 in March, which stipulates auction as the only means to allow extraction of minerals.

Earlier this month, Steel and Mines Minister Narendra Singh Tomar had said that five states including Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, have issued notices inviting tenders for 28 of the proposed 70 mines to be auctioned in the first phase.

Out of the 28 blocks, notices have been issued for 15 by Karnataka, 5 by Gujarat and one by Jharkhand.

The government is hopeful that four other states will come out with notices for mine auction this week or the next and that auction process for 70 mines will start by January in the first phase.