To help states deal with the sand mining issues, including demand supply deficit and illegal extraction, the government today launched a framework prepared after intensive consultations with all stakeholders.
The Sand Mining Framework was launched by Union Minister of Mines Narendra Singh Tomar at the third National Conclave on Mines & Minerals here in New Delhi.
"A sand mining framework has been prepared. Intensive consultations have been carried out with the state government officials and other stake holders," Tomar said at the event.
Sand is an important component for housing, infrastructure projects and construction activities, he said.
There have been various issues across the country in the mining activities related to sand like environmental degradation, non availability of sand, high sand prices, illegalities in sand mining etc, he said.
This will help states to frame their policies, taking into consideration their objectives, endowments and state deployment of resources, he added.
Tomar also said said that there has been a notable turn around in the mining sector ever since government has taken initiative for policy reforms.
The government amended the Mineral Auction Rules 2015 in November 2017 to make the auction process less cumbersome and help states auction mineral blocks quickly. The amendment has facilitated the auctions in a big way, he said.
"A record number of 41 mineral blocks have been put on auction within 3 months of the amendment, whereas 27 blocks were put up on auction earlier in 8 months from April to November 2017. Total estimated revenue to the state government over the lease period from the blocks already auctioned is Rs 1,43,893 crore," he said.
Tomar also launched the Portal for Pradhan Mantri Khanij Kshetra Kalyan Yojna (PMKKKY) monitoring along with Registration and Returns module of Phase I of the Mining Tenement System (MTS).
MTS primarily involves automating the entire mineral concession life-cycle, starting from identification of area and ending with closure of the mine; and connecting the various stakeholders for real-time transfer of electronic files and exchange of data.
It will facilitate end to end national scale accounting of all the minerals produced in the country from the pithead to its end use, reducing the scope for illegal mining.
The PMKKKY scheme is to be implemented by the funds collected under District Mineral Foundations (DMF) to be utilised for the welfare and development of the mining affected areas. Over Rs 17,000 crore have been collected under PMKKKY.
Mines Secretary Arun Kumar said, "The natural endowment of sand across many states is unable to meet the demand, coupled with ease of extraction issues of environmental degradation, pricing and illegalities in mining have risen".
The main objective is to provide a framework to assist states in arriving at best possible options before them, the secretary said.
The framework addresses the issues of state objectives, demand-supply assessment, measures to sand availability, allocation model, transportation and monitoring mechanism.
Besides, it also includes suggestions for faster clearances /approvals and using its interventions in complete process chain of sand mining.
The framework also lays emphasis on alternatives of sand i e manufactured sand, import of sand etc, he added.
Union Minister of State for Mines Haribhai Parthibhai Chaudhary was also present at the event, along with senior Union and state government officials and industry players.
In a statement, the mines ministry said 57 mines have been awarded 5 star ratings at the event.
The star rating system has led to a self-driven mechanism for adoption of best practices and for exhaustive and universal implementation of Sustainable Development Framework in mining, it said.
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