TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: Lashing out at state governments, Union Mines Ministry has said that the inadequate regulatory mechanism at state level has brought the ignominy of illegal mining on the mining sector in
Ministry of Mines, additional secretary A K Srivastava said that there is need to recognize the fact that with the buoyancy in the international market for minerals over a decade, an opportunity has been provided for the mining sector to fetch better prices while addressing a two day long conference on ‘Mining for sustainability’ organized by Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI).
. “As such there has been a growing concern among various stakeholders that this spurt in demand is leading to rampant mining at the cost of the environment,” Srivastava said adding “this concern, along with state governments’ failure has brought the ignominy of illegal mining on the sector’.
“Yet the situation may not have an early resolution,” he lamented. The senior official said that the draft Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Bill, 2011 has proposed to set up a national and state level mining regulatory authority, which will advice the government on levying of charges on mineral extraction and will also ensure quality standards.
“These authorities are also being vested with powers to conduct investigation and launch prosecution in case of organized illegal mining,” Srivastava added.
The ministry has suggested that as a measure to improve the mechanisms for controlling illegal mining, the government has undertaken a project to implement a system whereby all the mine owners, stockists, exporters and end-users shall be required to compulsorily register with the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM). However, it’s unfortunate to see, that many states are yet to implement it.
