Outlining the fairness coming in the field of mining across the country the Centre has stressed that new auction policy in place and use of mobile App would help the Government in achieving it in a better way.
Addressing a seminar on the mining sector during the Global Investors’ Summit Secretary in the Ministry of Mines Balvinder Kumar also talked about better dissemination of royalty through District Mineral Foundation Trust and national mineral exploration policy.
“These measures have made the sector transparent and vibrant than ever. Punishment for illegal mining has been enhanced. We now have mobile App for checking illegal mining in which picture of any such activity taking place can be uploaded for action to be taken by concerned authorities,” the Secretary said. He also talked about works done by the Government in the field of ‘ease of going business’ that has made it more proactive. 30 new mines are ready for e-auction in Jharkhand of bauxite, coal, diamond, gold, iron ore etc.
Rajesh Jha of Adani Group stressed that the State Government should look beyond just excavating coal for power plants. “China is going in a big way for coal to chemical. Power can be generated through various other means but coal to chemical adds value to the carbon fuel immensely. China is producing 60 MT urea out of coal but plants at Sindri and Talcher could not make desired headway. In future we have to use coal in some other way otherwise the mineral would be lying unused at pithead. We are having a MoU with Jharkhand in this regard which is going to be turned into reality in quite some time,” said the CEO.
Satish Pai of Hindalco said that resource to revenue generation is quite low in the State which needed to be improved. “The State has plenty of opportunities but land and forest clearances are still a big deal here. When you have to mine then you would have to understand that it requires land where forest would also be there. The policy makers need to understand it,” said the firm’s Managing Director. CEO of Vedanta Group Tom Albanese said that the company has some big plans for Jharkhand in line which would be taken into consideration in near future.