The three-day first ever Jharkhand Mining

Show-2017 inaugurated on Monday has set target to set up the State as mining machine manufacturing hub which would cater to the needs of prime mineral producing States besides, being the mineral capital of the country.

The global summit also holds importance when the State is on the verge of auctioning 11 different mineral blocks by the end of this year, including that of gold and as many as six coal blocks undergone hammer already are to be made operational in the next couple of months.

Opening the extravagansa, Union Coal and Railway Minister Piyush Goyal termed it as yet another chapter in the growth path of Jharkhand. “The State has reached to the stage where it has to decide how it would look and feel in the years to come. The time has come for a new Jharkhand and unless it is done, the dream of new India by 2022 is not possible. We at the Centre believe that the State is in the right hands,” said the Union Minister in his remarks.

He, on the occasion, also tried to brush aside apprehensions expressed about law and order situation which often plays spoilsport in the way of investment coming to the State. “I was reviewing railway projects relating to Jharkhand and the officials told me about naxal issue which does not allow activities during nights. I mentioned about this before the CM and he positively responded and assured me about security. This is the change we were looking at in the State,” added Goyal and informed that the Railways are going to invest Rs  3850 crore in Jharkhand during 2017-18.

The Minister also mentioned about Sports University coming up with CCl and the MoU signed during the

JMS-2017 between the Coal India limited and the State Government for tapping

abundance of mine water for drinking and irrigational

purposes. The University would now admit 1,400 young talents from this year against original target of 222.

“I can say here that Jharkhand has been the best State in utilising District Mineral Fund (DMF) built out of the mineral royalty for development in mining affected areas. The water accumulated in closed mines can be given to local villages free of cost after filtering it with RO or other amicable technology. The Centre is for all help required and we are working in a synergy with the State,” said Goyal. About 25,000 million gallon of water can be extracted every day from the shut down mines of CCl, BCCl and ECl in different parts of the State.   

Chief Minister Raghubar Das, terming the State full of possibilities, blamed previous dispensations for existing poverty, mass migration, unemployment etc. “All these problems existed here despite Jharkhand being a rich State because of political instability of so many years. Now, we have a stable Government in place. Holding this summit just after Momentum Jharkhand is because we felt that minerals alone cannot deal with the issues here and value addition through machinery manufacturing units is a must,” said the CM, referring to the strategic location of Jharkhand surrounded by mineral rich states like Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Odisha which is the main aim behind organising the JMS.

He also assured the investors about availability of land and improved law and order scenario to draw a parallel with other major investment destinations of the country. Major players in the field of mining and allied activities like Adani, NTPC, CIl, HEC, BEMl, Tata Steel, Hindustan Copper limited, Vedanta etc are participating in the summit where several technical sessions and exhibition of mining machinery and equipment are being organised.

Also present was Union Coal Secretary Susheel Kumar who said that ambitious target of 1.5 billion tonne from current 660 MT annually has been set for coal production for the next three years. “Many coal blocks are to be auctioned in near future. Jharkhand is the major beneficiary with Rs 3,700 crore coming to its kitty in the form of royalty,” said he.

Chief Secretary Rajbala Verma said that the State is investment ready with 11 mineral blocks ready to be auctioned, power and steel plants in offing and over 95 out of 200 MoU signed during the GIS coming on ground.

State Cabinet Ministers Neelkant Singh Munda, Chandra Prakash Choudhary and Amar Kumar Bauri along with Rajesh Adani of Adani Group, SK Acharya (CII), HEC’s Avijit Ghosh, BEMl’s DK Hota, CIl Chairman Gopal Singh and senior Government officials were present on the occasion.