The Chhattisgarh Government will be putting up a total of six limestone blocks for auction in November and December months this year under Phase II auctions, official sources informed.
The Government is also proposing to reserve the limestone blocks for greenfield cement plants, they informed.
Meanwhile, the State has collected and deposited `76 crore in the National Mineral Exploration Trust (NMET) account.
Every village with a major mineral lease in Chhattisgarh is being developed as a ‘model village’ and `5 to 6 crore will be spent every year for the next three years to improve the standard of living in these villages.
The State has issued letter of Intent (loI) for three mineral blocks auctioned in Phase I.
Auction for two limestone blocks were annulled due to opposition from the villagers in one block and smaller size and high silica, they informed.
A total of 10 blocks have been identified and are being explored by the State to be made ready for auction in 2017.
Notably, Chhattisgarh had 7.48 per cent share in total value of mineral production in the country during 2014-15, according to the annual report of the Union Ministry of Mines.
As per the report, Rajasthan had share of 11.49 per cent, Gujarat (8.85 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (8.25 per cent), Chhattisgarh (7.48 per cent) followed by Jharkhand (7.37 per cent), Odisha (6.38 per cent), Maharashtra (5.35 per cent), Madhya Pradesh (4.70 per cent), West Bengal (4.32 per cent), Assam (4.04 per cent), Karnataka (2.96 per cent) and Uttar Pradesh (2.72 per cent).
The remaining States and Union Territories having individual share of less than 2.5 per cent all together accounted for remaining of total value of mineral production during the year under review, the report stated.
State-wise analysis revealed that during 2014-15, the value of mineral production has shown a mixed trend as compared to the previous year.
The States which have indicated an increase in the value of mineral production are — Tripura (14.3 per cent), Karnataka (1.6 per cent), Bihar (6.6 per cent), Himachal Pradesh (16.5 per cent), Mehgalaya (61.6 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (0.8 per cent) and Chhattisgarh (0.7 per cent).
During 2014-15, mineral production was reported from 33 States and Union Territories which is actual reporting from Mineral Conservation and Development Rules (MCDR) and fuel minerals from 23 States and estimation of minor minerals for all the 32 States and Union Territories of which the bulk of value of mineral production of about 94.18 per cent was confined to 13 States (including off shore areas) only, it stated.