Govt for stringent laws to curb illegal mining

Further,according to the revised Bill,all mineral concessions can be cancelled on conviction for mining without a licence or for disobeying the direction of state governments. Under Section 30(4) of the Bill,any mining lease can be terminated on the directive of the Centre “for unlawful activities.”

Indicating the Centre’s resolve to combat the menace of illegal mining head on,the Bill envisages stringent penalties,including fines extending to ten times the value of the mineral mined or three years of imprisonment or both.

The Centre has also empowered states to debar erring parties from obtaining future concessions. The government can also cancel mineral concessions held by a person,who has been convicted under Section 119 (2).

The legislation has empowered the Centre to impose restrictions on mining of strategic minerals. The Central government has been allowed to “prematurely determine” any lease in public interest with appropriate compensation.

The new Bill envisages increasing the lease size to 10 hectares for major minerals and five hectares for minor minerals to make it easier to detect illegal mining and demarcate the boundaries. The legislation has also authorised mineral-rich states to search for minerals if it has been raised in contravention of the provisions of the MMDR Act and initiate action under Section 100 of the Criminal Procedure Code 1973.

The Bill makes it necessary for the prospective miners to ensure the concurrence of grams sabhas forehand before securing mining leases. For concessions of minor minerals too,the consent of the panchayats have been made mandatory in view of Section 4 of the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas Act in the legislation.