Ranchi | Jul 07, 2015: Under the pressure of presenting Action Taken Report (ATR) on the MB Shah report after missing two deadlines, Chief Minister Raghubar Das on Monday directed officials of State Mining Departments to dispose applications pending for lease renewal by July 31 for sure. A high-level inter-disciplinary committee headed by the Development Commission is looking into the lease renewal for host of mining companies in the State, particularly located in West Singhbhum district.
After holding a review meeting, the Chief Minister put the subject as priority for the Government. "Attaching local youths to employment is the priority of the Government. An inter-disciplinary committee headed by the Development Commissioner is looking into the applications for extending the mining lease up to March 31, 2020. The committee should submit its recommendations on 21 iron ore lease holders who were issued show cause notices for certain violations. Keeping in mind the clarifications, the applications should be disposed of by July 31," said the CM.
The Pioneer had reported about the Centre's rap to the State in failing to submit updated ATR on illegal mining submitted by the MB Shah Commission last year and formation of the committee. The Committee chaired by Development Commissioner RS Poddar has members in the forms of Secretaries of Forest and Environment, Revenue, Law, Mines Departments along with the Principal Chief Conservator of Forest and Chief Conservators of Forest working on the matter.The State among others was named prominently by the Shah Commission that had mentioned that despite delay in renewal of the mining licenses by the Jharkhand Government, miners continued to exploit the area leased to them without fresh green approvals.
In Jharkhand alone, the Centre appointed Commission of inquiry, had calculated illegal iron and manganese ore mining in the tune of Rs22,000 crore and revealed that 18 leases were running under deemed extension without having environment approvals and 22 were carrying mining in violation of norms.The CM also ordered to fix a meeting with the SAIL Chairman within a week time which besides the issue would discuss CSR activities of the steel major and steps being taken for employment of youths.The MB Shah report had pointed out a missing link of about 53.41 MT of iron ore between the figures of the Indian Bureau of Mines and of the State Government and had calculated its value of about Rs8,685 crore. It feared that the unaccounted mineral might have been sold to illegal mineral operators locally.
All this had prompted the Supreme Court to seek the ATR aimed to mitigate the effects of the practice as well as checking it for the future.The CM also directed Commissioner of Kolhan Division to act swiftly for setting up solar park in West Singhbhum area in close coordination with the JREDA. Chief Secretary Rajiv Gauba, Principal Secretary to the CM Sanjay Kumar, Mining Secretary SK Satpathy, CM's Secretary Sunil Kumar Burnwal, Mining Director SP Negi and Kolhan Commissioner Arun were present in the meeting.
(Source: http://www.dailypioneer.com/)