New Delhi | Jun 28, 2016: In its latest endeavour to lend transparency to the clearance process, the environment ministry on Tuesday launched a portal to facilitate online submission and tracking of requests to mine sand and minor minerals.
“The web portal will lead to the empowerment of the project proponent, as it not only enhances transparency of the entire application process, but also enables the proponents to track their applications online,” said Union minister of environment, forests and climate change (MoEFCC) Prakash Javadekar while launching the portal at a workshop on mining of sand and minor minerals.
The minister termed the move revolutionary and added that the portal is a “district-level, web-based and role-based workflow application for online submission and monitoring of proposals”.
Javadekar emphasised that the government has changed the whole system of distribution of natural resources.
“Technological tools like satellite mapping will be used for identifying spots where sustainable sand mining can be allowed. Satellite mapping and barcoded receipts will help in curbing illegal sand mining and illegal transportation of sand,” he explained.
In January 2016, MoEFCC came out with a policy for mining of minor minerals with special emphasis on sustainable sand mining. Under the new policy, the Union government decentralized the process of granting environmental clearances for sustainable sand mining and mining of minor minerals. It created a District Environment Impact Assessment Authority for monitoring sand mining.
Recently, the ministry came out with sustainable sand mining guidelines wherein it suggested tapping “alternative sources of sand and gravel” like sand that accumulates at the bottom of dams.
According to an official statement, the web-based application, launched on Tuesday, automates the entire tracking of proposals, which includes online submission of a new proposal and editing/updating details of proposals at each stage of the workflow.
(Source: http://www.livemint.com/)
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