Centre asks Orissa for Action Plan to clear mineral reconnaissance permit

The Union mines ministry has directed the Orissa government to prepare a time bound Action Plan for speedy disposal of pending Reconnaissance Permit (RP) cases of mining leases in the state by January 2011.

As many as 26 RP cases are pending in the state. Besides Orissa, the ministry has also asked other states like Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh to come out with the Action Plan for expeditious disposal of cases. A total of 293 RP cases are pending across 16 states in the country.

It has been brought to the notice of the ministry that a large number of applications for RP are pending at various levels in the states. The ministry feels that there has not been much progress in the disposal of such applications.

The ministry has noted that in a large number of cases where the prior approval of the ministry has been conveyed to the state governments, no intimation is received regarding the issuance of Letter of Intents (LoIs) by the state governments.

A total of 318 LoIs are pending in 11 states including 16 in Orissa. The ministry has asked the state governments to ensure that there is no inordinate delay in issuance of LoIs and has asked the state governments to come out with the complete list of LoIs issued till date at the fourth meeting of the Central Coordination cum Empowered Committee (CEC) to be held in New Delhi on Wednesday.

The ministry has also asked the Orissa government to settle all outstanding issues with the Railways. The Railways have pointed out that the state government is continuing to issue transport permits per truck and not per rake which is making it difficult to monitor the permits. It has sought that transport permits should be issued per rake with truck numbers mentioned in the permit.

The state government has not posted its officials to man the check points in the railway sidings at Jaruli, Banspani and Barbil where the Railways have put cabins for checking transport permits.

Moreover, the indents are valid for 30 days from the date of signature by the state government's representative, and on many occasions, these indents are rendered invalid as the Railways cannot provide rakes in time. Hence, the Railways have suggested that the indents should have a validity of 60 days instead.