Mines ministry raps Orissa, MP for non-submission of mineral concession reports

The Union Mines Ministry has pulled up the state governments of Orissa and Madhya Pradesh for non-submission of quarterly reports related to mineral concessions.

The Mines Ministry has expressed deep concern over the fact that Orissa and Madhya Pradesh have not furnished even a single report since it started asking for submission of such reports in 2009.

The pendency of reports is despite the repeated reminders sent by the Centre in this regard.

Bhupal Nanda, director (mines), Government of India had directed the state governments to accord due priority to the matter and furnish their quarterly reports. Earlier on March 16 this year, the Union mines secretary S Vijay Kumar had written to the Chief Secretaries of all states, urging expeditious disposal of mineral concession applications.

According to data of the mines department, GoI, Orissa is yet to furnish any quarterly report on mineral concessions from the October-December quarter of 2009-10 till the January-March period of 2010-11. The quarterly reports relate to disposal of applications for mineral concessions, status of execution of mining leases and renewal of concessions.

However, the state government claimed to have submitted certain reports.

"We have submitted the quarterly reports for some quarters. We'll examine if there is any pending report and submit it to the Department of Mines, GoI at the earliest”, Manoj Ahuja, secretary (steel & mines), Orissa government told Business Standard.

The Union Mines Ministry has also observed that there has not been much progress in disposal of reconnaissance permit (RP) applications pending with the state governments.

As many as 26 cases of Reconnaissance Permit (RP) of mining leases in the state are pending. The Union mines ministry had asked the state government to prepare a time-bound Action Plan for speedy disposal of these pending cases by January 2011.

The Centre had urged the state governments to scrupulously adhere to the time-frame prescribed under Rule 63 (A) of Mineral Concession Rules for disposal of concession applications. The rule stipulates that RP cases have to be disposed off within six months, prospecting license in nine months and mining license within 12 months.

The Union Mines Ministry had noted that in a large number of cases where prior approvals of the ministry has been conveyed to the state governments, no intimation was being sent by the state governments regarding issuance of Letters of Intents (LOIs). The ministry held that Orissa needed to make special efforts in this connection as 77 LOIs were pending in the state.

The regional offices of Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) would carry out the data entry regarding LOIs. IBM has informed the Union ministry that data entry regarding LOIs was already under way and since the work was an ongoing process, the state governments should evolve a system whereby the requisite information could be furnished to IBM regularly.