PANJIM: After effective implementation of Mining Surveillance System
(MSS) in the mineral rich States of the country including Goa, the Centre has
now decided to give a major thrust to the use of unmanned aerial vehicles
(UAVs)-commonly known as drones, in order to increase the efficiency of various
aspects of mining sector.
During the recently held Coordination-cum-Empowered
Committee (CCEC) meeting, the Union Mines Ministry has proposed introducing use
of ‘Drone Technology’ in the mining sector, as recommended by the Indian Bureau
of Mines (IBM).
“This technology would help the State Governments in
monitoring the compliance of the mining lease holder with the mining plan and
in keeping a check on the amount of royalty paid by the mining lease holder as
against the actual quantity of mineral extracted from the mining lease,” the
minutes of the meeting reads.
Sources in the Mines department confirmed that the Union
Mines Ministry had in December, through a communication had asked the State to
explore the usage and deployment of drone technology in the mining belts.
“However, we were not in position to decide on the matter due to the assembly
elections, where several officials were on polling duty,” sources said.
Following no reply from any of the States, the Ministry has
directed Mineral Exploration Corporation Limited (MECL) and Geological Survey
of India (GSI) are been advised to study how drone technology could be adopted.
During the meeting, the Tata Steels Ltd
made a presentation on how it has deployed Drone Technology and photogrrammetry
tools to monitor the lease area (i.e. mining progress,
compliance of actual mining vis-à-vis approved mine plan, lease boundary
management etc.).
Hence, Government has decided to take help
of Tata Steels Ltd.
The MSS has been effectively
put up in place for 65 mining leases, which are granted permission
for operation.
Meanwhile, the Ministry is in the process of engaging
National Institute of Smart Governance (NISG) for development of a centralized
portal for monitoring implementation of District Mineral Foundation (DMF). NISG
will be helping all the Stares in developing their own portals and as such
States have been asked to collect the details of the royalty payments and the
contribution received by them towards DMF.
