16-03-14
* State has huge dumps of Bauxite, Iron, Manganese that are proposed to be disposed of through auction
By Kartik Lokhande
After almost 37 years since it issued guidelines regarding disposal of
mining dumps, Maharashtra Government has now come up with a policy in
this regard. The old guidelines have been replaced by new policy under
which mining dumps are to be disposed of through auction.
The move of the State Government is in tune with the policy decision at
the level of Central Government. The new policy has been issued on March
15, 2014 by Industries, Energy and Labour Department. As per the
policy, which is applicable to mining dumps of major minerals outside
the ‘legal mining areas’, the dumps are proposed to be disposed of
through auction on ‘as is, where is’ basis. The policy applies to dumps
on private, Government, or Forest Department lands.
According to official sources, Maharashtra has dumps of Bauxite, Iron,
and Manganese. Most of these dumps date back to the period when there
was no technology for mining from such dumps. At many places, the miners
left the over-burden dumps on private lands or agricultural lands and
the mined area was not reclaimed. The owners of lands with such dumps
did not get compensation from miners, states the policy document issued
by the Government. Hence, the guidelines issued previously on June 13,
1977 have been repealed and the new policy has been issued.
However, before disposing of the mining dumps, Director of Geology and
Mines (DGM) based at Nagpur will issue directions for establishing the
mineral deposit in dumps and its quality through a scientific analysis.
While doing so, the guidelines set by Indian Bureau of Mines are to be
followed. Interestingly, the offset-price for mineral deposits in such
dumps will be ‘equivalent’ to mineral royalty at prevailing rates. The
royalty-based offset price for mineral deposits in dumps is to be
decided by respective District Mining Officer with approval from DGM.
As far as mining dumps on private lands are concerned, the owner will
get right to dispose of 40 per cent of the dump on his land at the
highest bid accepted in auction process. If the owner fails to deposit
the amount equivalent to accepted bid price for 40 per cent of the dump
within seven days, the highest bidder will get rights to dispose of the
entire dump. However, sources in Department of Geology and Mines said,
there is a little ‘area of concern’ in the policy. There is a provision
that the highest bidder, whose bid is accepted, will have to obtain
clearances from various competent authorities including Environment and
Forest Department prior to disposal of the dumps.
The policy also provides for penal action against successful bidders if
they excavate more than the prescribed depth and width of the dump. In
such cases, the action of contractors will be construed as ‘illegal
excavation’ and appropriate action will be taken against them. Besides,
during transport of excavated mining dumps, the respective District
Collector/District Mining Officer will issue bar-coded transit passes.
What did the Central Committee say?
The
Coordination-cum-Empowered Committee (CEC) on Mineral Development and
Regulation, in its quarterly meeting held in September 2013, had termed
the issue of dump mining as ‘very important and critical’ given the
current scenario specifically in the states of Maharashtra and Goa. In
these states, there are huge quantities of dumps. Two issues that needed
to be addressed by the Ministry of Mines were identified in the same
meeting. These issues included removal of ore in excess of quantities
approved in the Mining Plan and effective monitoring mechanism. It was
stated that the dump area was to be construed as part of mining lease
and that dumping was essentially a mining activity.
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