New Delhi, April 01: Concerned over rampant illegal mining across the country, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday favoured setting up of a high-level task force under the Home Ministry to tackle the menace.
“Illegal mining of various important minerals is rampant. The Home Minister (P Chidambaram) has taken note of my suggestion to set up a high-level committee to deal with the problem,” Ramesh told reporters here.
“We need to take up the issue in a systematic manner. So far we have been approaching the mining problem case-by-case,” the minister said.
The suggestion from Ramesh has come amid several complaints that the Centre has been recently receiving about widespread illegal mining in Karnataka, particularly in Bellary district.
The Supreme Court too has appointed a team to inspect six mining areas in the district to determine whether boundary posts were altered and illegal mining was being carried out.
Ramesh said that the task force can be coordinated by the Home Ministry and comprise of representatives from the Mining, Environment and Finance Ministries.
It’s not only major minerals like Bauxite, Iron and Manganese but also minor minerals which are being illegally extracted in various states such as Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Goa and Madhya Pradesh, he noted.
‘166 projects awaiting ministry nod’
Dismissing as “baseless” allegations that his ministry was holding up projects, Ramesh said most of the pending cases related to legal and regulatory issues outside his ministry’s jurisdiction.
166 projects pertaining to various sectors were awaiting forestry and environmental nod at various stages, he told reporters while giving the detailed status of all pending environment and forestry clearances.
Of the 67 projects waiting forest clearance, 14 are from the coal sector followed by road and highways (8) and transmission line (8). Similarly, of the 99 projects seeking environmental nod, steel sector tops the list with 37 projects followed by coal (25) and thermal (21) sectors.
The minister’s clarification came amid reports that some of the Cabinet ministers holding economic portfolios had complained that the Environment Ministry by not giving timely clearances, was delaying a number of developmental projects.
-PTI