Date | Oct 24, 2016:
In what may provide a push to India’s mineral production efforts, the ministry of environment, forests and climate change (MoEFCC) has agreed to give forest clearance to 69 mining leases for which letters of intent (LoIs) were granted before the Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) Amendment Act, 2015 (MMDR) came into effect.
A total of 317 such LoIs across 12 mineral-rich states were issued before MMDR came into force in January 2015. Under the old regime, mining licences were granted to companies by the states on a discretionary basis. However, the new Act allows for grant of mineral concessions through auctions to bring in transparency.
The MoEFCC’s stand to provide relief to companies engaged in steel and cement manufacturing comes in the backdrop of it ruling out granting environment clearance (EC) for around 200 mining leases, where licences were granted before MMDR came into effect.
“The MoEFCC agreed that the general forest clearance can be considered and for that individual applicants are required to apply for forest clearance under section 2(iii) of Forest Conservation Act, 1980, along with a copy of the mining plan within 15 days,” mines secretary Balvinder Kumar wrote in a 20 October communication to the chief secretaries of states including Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Tamil Nadu.
The letter is available on the website of mines ministry.
The concerned departments of the state governments may be asked to take immediate action for forwarding these forest clearance applications to MoEFCC, the letter noted.
“The mines ministry will soon hold a meeting with state chief secretaries and the MoEFCC to discuss the pending environment clearances for mines,” Kumar told InfraCircle.
These pending cases of mining leases pertain to section 10A(2)(c) of the MMDR Act wherein the last date of execution of lease deed is 11 January 2017.
Section 10A(2)(c) states, "If a letter of intent (by whatever name called) has been issued by the state government to grant a mining lease, before the commencement of the MMDR, 2015, the mining lease shall be granted subject to fulfilment of the conditions of the previous approval or of the letter of intent within a period of two years from the date of commencement of the said Act."
Out of the 317 cases, there are 69 cases involving environment clearances. Apart from this, there are about 95 cases pending for action with the state governments. Also, there are 97 such cases wherein the project proponents have not taken action to process their clearances in which notice may be issued.
Experts welcomed the move.
"There needs to be a balance between green issues and economic development. These mining leases were stuck since years and hence forest clearance will the pave way for various steel and cement projects to go ahead," said V.S. Jain, former chairman and managing director of state-owned Steel Authority of India Ltd.
Currently, mining contributes around 2-2.5% to India’s gross domestic product (GDP) with the government projecting a GDP growth of 7-7.75% for the current financial year. The government wants to increase the share of mining sector in the country’s GDP by one percentage point over the next three to four years.
"Mining lease applications, if not executed before 11 January 2017, would suo-motu lapse. That’s why, their expeditious processing is important as not only would it affect the mining sector, but also have its impact on the downstream and allied sectors. Moreover, lapsing of these applications, which are in process of acquiring clearances, may likely to result in litigations, if not expedited," the letter added.
InfraCircle earlier reported on 27 June the government plans to cancel leases pending with various state governments and auction them.
(Source: http://www.vccircle.com/)