Visakhapatnam | May 23, 2017: Andhra Pradesh, rich in mineral resources, will take stringent steps to curb illegal mining in the State, according to Minister for Mines and Geology RVSK Ranga Rao.

At a stakeholders' meeting here on Tuesday, he warned of stringent action against the mining mafia and apprised the stakeholders of steps being taken by the Government to ensure transparency.

Various technologies were being adopted to monitor the process from application to allotment on a real-time basis.

He told reporters that the target for the year from mining was set at ₹2,000 crore – ₹3000 crore more over the previous year's. He said AP would offer lot of opportunities for investment and added that Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu was very keen on exploiting mineral resources.Ranga Rao said in accordance with the instructions of the Centre, auctions would be conducted for allotment of minor minerals.

Association of AP Stone Crushing Industry general secretary P Srinivas Babu said though they had been contributing ₹1,000 crore to the exchequer, the stone crushers were facing several problems to solve which a meeting should be conducted.

Secretary of Mines B. Sreedhar said all orders and circulars were being placed in the public domain to make everything transparent.

(Source: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/)