The state government's decision to exclude representatives of mining companies in the committees to be formed under District Mineral Foundation (DMF) has left the miners sulking.
Miners said the state government which did not consult them at the time of framing guidelines for DMF has neglected them further by denying them any say in utilisation of funds that would accrue to DMF.
"In our opinion, a representative of mining body should have been part of the DMF. The miners were not consulted while preparing the guidelines. Now, they are going to give the mine leaseholders a raw deal by not including them in the committees", said a senior official at a mining company.
The state government is readying to notify the DMF structure by the end of this month.
"The chief minister has approved the norms for DMF. The DMF norms are now being vetted by the law department. We hope to notify the DMF structure by the end of this month", said steel & mines minister Prafulla Mallick.
Committees for DMF will be formed in all districts and such committees would be chaired by either revenue divisional commissioner (RDC) or the respective district collector. The committees would also have MPs, MLAs and Zilla Parishad members as representatives, the minister said.
The funds accruing to the DMF would be utilised for overall development of the area whose ecology has been degraded by rampant mining. It would come up with CSR (corporate social responsibility) interventions in areas like education, health, roads and drinking water.
According to the new Mines and Minerals- (Development & Regulation) MMDR Act, the state government shall form DMF trust in all mineral bearing districts where an amount equivalent to the royalty collected from mines will be deposited by lessees. This fund would be utilized for the interest and benefit of persons, and areas affected by mining related operations.
Section 9B (2) of the Act empowers the state government to prescribe the manner in which DMF would work for the interest and benefit of the affected persons. The foundation is meant for the marginalized people and devastated land of the district where the quality of life and environment stands substantially degraded in recent times due to exponential growth of mining and many other related activities.
