Chandigarh | Nov 22, 2017: The Haryana Cabinet on Wednesday approved new set of rules namely Haryana District Mineral Foundation Rules, 2017, to constitute District Mineral Foundation in each district under the chairmanship of the Deputy Commissioner of the district concerned. This initiative has made Haryana a leading state in the country in creating this concept.
A state-level Review Committee under the chairmanship of the Principal Secretary, Mines and Geology Department, will review the works undertaken by the foundation on yearly basis.
The contribution received in respect of major minerals shall be as per rate prescribed by the Central Government and one-third of the total amount received under the Mines and Mineral Development and Regulation Fund (for minor minerals) established in accordance with Haryana Minor Mineral Concession, Stocking, Transportation of Minerals and Prevention of Illegal Mining Rules, 2012 will be the corpus of the fund from the date of notification of the new section 9B in the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957.
As the mineral concession holders are already under obligation to contribute an amount equal to 10 per cent of the amount of contract money/ dead rent / royalty and a further five per cent by the state government, for similar works for benefit and interest of the mining affected areas, it has been decided that in case of minor mineral concessions, the amount equal to one-third of the total of 'Mines and Mineral Development, Restoration and Rehabilitation Fund' would be transferred to the District Mineral Foundation (DMF) for meeting with the objects of the same.
Thus, five per cent of the total annual contract money/royalty/lease amount since January 12, 2015 shall form the corpus of the respective DMF’s in the over 16 mining districts of the State. The Fund will be utilised at district level as per the objectives of the Pradhan Mantri Khanij Kshetra Kalyan Yojana (PMKKKY) in the nearly 300 mining affected villages of these 16 districts. As on date, Rs 35 crore is available with expected annual fund generation of over Rs 25-30 crore.
(Source: http://www.uniindia.com/)