OREANDA-NEWS.The Union Minister for Mines and Steel, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar chaired the first meeting of the Consultative Committee of Mines Ministry yesterday. Detailed deliberations on various aspects of illegal mining were held during the meeting.

While addressing the members, Shri Tomar said, “Coordination between centre and states will have to be improved further, to effectively control illegal mining. In a federal setup, state governments have their own rights, and the states will have to be committed to improve the situation by working jointly with the centre. Several steps have been taken in this direction. I have gone to different states and met Chief Ministers and Mines Ministers. Regular interactions are being held at Secretary level for better coordination. We have sought help from all the states to save the national resources. Many states have taken concrete steps for the same, other states are yet to take any action. Just like there are various types of mining, there are various ways of illegal mining. All of us will together have to create such an environment, wherein controlling illegal mining becomes a priority for everyone.” The Mines Minister also shared details of initiatives being taken by the government to develop mining sector, while taking care of the environmental concerns, to strengthen the economy of the country.

The committee members expressed their views on various issues related to illegal mining. These included strengthening of central inspection system, relook at royalty rates, giving importance to environment concerns, illegal mining on the banks of river Ganga, role of officials meant to control illegal mining, involving local leadership in control mechanism, revisiting rules for sand mining, deliberation on setting up district level committee and mapping of illegal mining for putting up in public domain.

The Members of the Parliament, Shri Bidyut Baran Mahato, Shri Bodh Singh Bhagat, Shri Janardan Singh Sigriwal, Shri Laxman Giluwa and Shri Sher Singh Ghubaya from Lok Sabha and Shri Tapan Kumar Sen from Rajya Sabha attended the meeting. Senior officials from the Ministry of Mines were also present during the meeting.