The Centre is planning to initiate an amendment to the Minerals Regulation Act to curb the illegal exports of iron-ore and facilitate value addition in the iron and steel sector, Union Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs M Veerappa Moily said.
“The law ministry has prepared the draft bill and is awaiting the Centre’s approval. We will table the Mineral Regulation Bill in the next session of the Parliament. The amendment will ensure protection of the mineral resources and see that it is not plundered and also facilitate value-addition,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a function to celebrate the diamond jubilee of Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association (Kassia) here.
The Bill is ready and will be placed before the Cabinet shortly. “It may come up in the coming monsoon session of Parliament,” Moily said.
Commenting on alle-ged illegal exports of iron ore from Belekeri port near Karwar in Karnataka, Moily said it is not possible to impose a total ban on exports of iron-ore in the country. “We can only regulate and see that a lot of value addition is done within the country.”
Moily said the Parliament is also contemplating an amendment to the Constitution to accord constitutional powers to Lok Ayukta. “Lok Ayukta cannot function on the whims and fancies of any state government and should function as an autonomous body. In this direction I have recommended more autonomy for Lok Ayukta in my second Administrative Reforms Commission report,” he said.
He said the institution of Lok Ayukta was established to root out corruption in the country and “now there is a need to strengthen the Lok Ayukta by giving it more powers.”
Meanwhile, as part of a damage-control exercise, senior ministers in the state today appealed to Lok Ayukta N Santosh Hegde to withdraw his resignation but he refused to budge.
A delegation led by state party president K S Eshwarappa, Home Minister V S Acharya and Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Kumar met Hegde and pressed him to reconsider his decision. “Hegde said he would pay attention to reconsidering the resignation”, Eshwarappa told reporters after the meeting.
He said Hegde was told that the BJP government would move strongly against illegal mining in the State and drew attention to Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa’s statement affirming government’s resolve to stop it.
Yeddyurappa is mulling ordering an inquiry against illegal mining in the state from 2003, he said. “We will approach the Centre to stop export of iron ore from Karnataka,” Eshwarappa said.
Later, Hegde said he was happy the Chief Minister has admitted to illegal mining and promised to take action.
Hegde had recently announced his decision to resign with effect from August 31 accusing the BJP government of being indifferent towards tackling corruption and was particularly unhappy about illegal mining.
