Hyderabad | June 21, 2017: For protecting the rich mineral wealth in Telangana, the Mines & Geology Department is all set to take up Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) survey of all the working mines in the State. The government has also decided to prepare geo-referenced cadastral maps which are records of the mining sites across the State.
Telangana has rich natural resources with about 20 per cent of the country’s total coal deposits available in the State. The State is also rich in limestone deposits as well as other minerals like bauxite, asbestos, graphite, gypsum, iron, mica, manganese and others. Besides sand mining activities, the granite industry is a major contributor to the growth of mining activities in the State. The department has earned a total revenue of Rs 3,169 crore through mining, including Rs 419 crore from sand mining in 2016-17, hitting a growth rate of 34 per cent against the previous fiscal.
With large-scale mining operations being taken up across the State, the TS government wanted to ensure that there is no scope for irregularities and that these mining activities are not conducted outside the leased areas. “Though the mining leases are given after verifying the extent of the area, there is always scope for illegal mining by the contractor. To ensure that no mineral deposits are illegally mined, we intend to take up the DGPS survey as per the instructions of Indian Bureau of Mines suggestion for recording the geo-cordinates for all the boundary pillars of the existing mining leases,” an official of the Mines & Geology Department told Telangana Today.
A panel of eight agencies has been constituted to conduct DGPS/ETS survey and demarcation of the existing prospecting licence/mining lease and quarry lease and for demarcation of mineral blocks in the State. After inviting Expressions of Interest, the Director of Mines and eology has submitted the list of interested agencies which have been entrusted the job of demarcation of the mining blocks. Once completed, the survey data will be used for identification and prevention of illegal operations outside the mining leases.
IBM guidelines
The empanelled agencies will carry out the survey in adherence with all statutory rules and procedures, including guidelines issued by Indian Bureau of Mines and also instructions issued by the Director of Mines and Geology from time to time. To ensure that there is no conflict of interest, international standards will be maintained while carrying out the survey.
The officials said that the findings of the survey would be matched with the satellite images procured from Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and also the maps from the local survey department, to identify exact violations, if any.
(Source: https://telanganatoday.com/)