Now, book mining rights with a click of a mouse!
PTI
NEW DELHI, JUNE 20
India will soon join an elite league of countries, including Australia and Canada, where investors can get data on free mineral blocks at the click of a mouse and apply online for mining rights.
“We have asked all mineral-bearing states to work in tandem with the Land Resource Department, Ministry of Rural Development, for faster digitisation of cadastral maps (map showing detailed records of land),” Mines Joint Secretary Ajita Bajpai Pande told PTI.
The Land Resource Department has provided over Rs 600 crore for the digitisation process, while the Mines Ministry has earmarked initial funding of Rs21 crore for a ‘computerised on-line register of the Mining Tenement System’.
Pandey said that all mineral-rich states have been asked to replicate a pilot project – tested at iron-ore rich Bellary in Karnataka and Durg in Chattisgarh – to digitise information relating to mining resources, including available blocks.
A mining tenement system provides online data of minerals and mines. It enables any person to see data regarding the status of concessions online on a large scale map, and accepts applications for vacant areas.
“Only advanced nations like Australia and Canada currently have the system, which offers all information on mineral concessions,” Pande said. She said the system will be implemented in Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu.
The system has been developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) with the help of the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM). IBM has designed formats on reconnaissance permits (for exploring minerals), prospecting licences and mining leases, and circulated them to all state governments concerned.
The system would also be useful to check illegal transportation of minerals with the help of proper records. Last year, a staggering 42,000 such cases were detected in 11 mineral-bearing states. The centre has also appointed a task force to curb illegal mining.
across 425 mines.
