Bhubaneswar | Oct 12, 2017: Over Rs 3,433 crore have been collected in Odisha till September, the highest among the states in terms of collection and utilisation of funds under the District Mineral Foundation (DMF).
This was stated by the state's Steel and Mines Minister Prafulla Kumar Mallik while inaugurating a national conference on Mining in Odisha here.
As many as 9,896 projects with an outlay of Rs 1,459.17 crore have already been initiated in different districts which cover drinking water, road infrastructure, education, health and other (sectors), he said.
Introduction DMF, mandated under the amended Mines and Minerals Development & Regulation (MMDR) Act, has facilitated augmentation of funds to provide a permanent, sustainable solution to problems of tribals and poor people living in mining affected areas.
On the need to emphasise more responsible mining, the minister said effective regulation and implementation of current laws were pre-requisites for being able to continue mining of even most essential minerals.
Prevention and mitigation of adverse environmental effects due to mining and repairing and re-vegetation of affected forest area and land covered by trees in accordance with the latest internationally acceptable norms and modern afforestation practice should form an integral part of mine development strategy, said Mallik at the conference organised by industry body ASSOCHAM.
Lamenting that high turnaround time in network leads to poor operational efficiency, resulting in demurrages and detentions, the minister said, "our government is working to enhance and optimise logistics configuration between mines, plants, railways and ports."
He also said that high visibility of information supply chain and improved planning and collaboration between various service providers would be optimised to improve efficiency of logistics operations.
On technology upgradation and modernisation, Mallik said, "while we have come a long way, there is still lot of potential left for improvement."
He also said end-use industries based on major minerals like chromite, bauxite, manganese, iron ore and coal had a wide scope of growth in Odisha which is the country's sixth largest state in terms of value of mineral production.
Survey and exploration together is the first step to develop domestically available minerals for internal utilisation in infrastructure, capital goods and basic industries as vast resources lie unexplored.
(Source: https://www.outlookindia.com/)