Uttarakhand brings in new mining policy

Move likely to help mop up Rs 400-crore revenue

The Uttarakhand Cabinet has put its seal of approval on a new mining policy, which would help the government garner revenue of Rs 400 crore, make tendering process more transparent and reduce the role of government agencies.

At present, the government earns about Rs 100-150 crore.

Through another amendment, the district magistrates have been given the authority to give mining rights on upto five acres of land to local youths. "We have tried to rope in local youths in the new mining policy," said principal mining secretary Rakesh Sharma. For areas in between 5 - 50 acres, the government would issue tenders.

The Cabinet last night approved the new mining/quarrying policy, locally known as "khanan" to end the foothold of the illegal operators who have been causing considerable revenue loss to the state.

However, the key features of the previous mining/quarrying policy have been retained, added Sharma. In view of the tight financial position of the state, Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna had told officials to explore options for increasing revenue from the mining business.

The mining business provides employment opportunities to thousands of people in the hill state where the Uttarakhand Forest Development Corporation (UFDC), the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) and Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam (KMVN) are the three government agencies which carry out mining. Under the new policy, UFDC has been mandated to carry out the mining at 7,000 hectares in the reserved forest. Outside the reserve forest, 1,000 hectares of area had been allocated to GMVN while KMVN has been given the right to mine only at 250 hectares.

In rest of the civil areas, the government used to give the rights of mining to private parties, often leading to widespread illegal mining.

Due to strict environment norms and court orders, the river-bed mining had been virtually banned in forest and other areas in 2010-11.

Following the ban, the prices of construction materials had gone up considerably which was putting lot of pressure in the construction business.