Accord priority to forest nod for Hind Copper: Panel to govt

A parliamentary panel today asked the government to accord "top priority" to granting forest clearance to Hindustan Copper's three mines, including Rakha, and said the matter should be taken up at the highest level.
"Though the company (Hindustan Copper) has repeatedly taken up the matter of reopening, operation and expansion of Rakha, Kendidah and Chapri Siddheswar mines with the state governments concerned / the Ministry of Environment & Forests, the required statutory clearances in obtaining stage-II forest clearances are still awaited," Standing Committee on Coal and Steel said in its report on the Mines Ministry.
The committee report, which was tabled in Parliament today, stated that if things do not work out, the ongoing expansion plan of the company would get further delayed.

Hindustan Copper (HCL) could spend only Rs 287.4 crore (up to February 2016) as against the plan outlays of Rs 475 crore at BE (Budget Estimates) stage and Rs 380 crore at RE (Revised Estimates) stage during 2015-16.
The committee found it as an indication of sub-optimal utilisation of approved allocation.
HCL could not utilise Rs 40 crore allocated for 'replacement and renewals' and up to February 2016, only Rs 14.8 crore could be expended, it added.

"Though the company has exceeded utilisation of Rs 120 crore (BE) for mine development, the allocation of Rs 305 crore for mine expansion programme was drastically reduced and expenditure of Rs 144.91 crore could be made till February, 2016," it said.

The Plan outlay of HCL for 2016-17 was initially kept at Rs 668 crore, but was later reduced to Rs 400 crore.
Taking note of under-utilisation of Plan outlays by HCL during 2015-16, the committee urged the government to review the methodology adopted by the company for setting up annual financial targets, which the Committee said should be realistic and achievable.
"The committee expects that HCL would make all-out efforts to utilise the earmarked funds during 2016-17 and complete mine expansion schemes without any further time and cost overrun," the panel suggested.