Peddireddy Ramachandra reviews Mines dept. directs officials to maintain transparency over leases

Andhra Pradesh Minister of State for Mines, Energy, Forests, Environment, Science and Technology Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy has directed the officials to take all necessary steps to increase mineral-based revenue to the government. He said several reforms have already been brought in the mines department as per the directions of Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy. He said the e-auction system was introduced to ensure maximum transparency in the case of mining leases.

A review meeting on mining leases was held on Wednesday with officials from the Ministry of Mines, Forests, and Environment in the third block of the Secretariat. On the occasion, he said that the Mining Department has started the process of issuing mining permits in the e-auction, which is attracting many enthusiasts to the mining sector. In the same vein, the authorities have been advised to apply for mining leases in the past and also focus on environmental, forest permits, or leases that are not under mining.

The minister said if there was coordination between the environment, forestry, and mining departments, it would be possible to resolve the issues regarding pending leases. He said that despite getting leases from the Department of Mines, many were failing to get the necessary permits from the Department of Environment and Forests and urged them to look into the obstacles they were facing. He said if mining was started on pending leases, the government would get revenue and the environment ministry would also get revenue in the form of fees through CFOs and CFEs.

It is said there are 5146 minor mineral mining leases across the state. Of these, 2276 leases have all kinds of approvals and of the other 277 leases, 133 leases are likely to be approved and the remaining 144 leases have been found to have problems with approvals. He said mining was started on 83 leases on the initiative of the authorities on non-working leases. and asked to take steps to start mining activities everywhere. "Liaison officers from the Ministry of Mines will also be appointed for this purpose," he said.

Peddireddy directed to review all the regulations within a specified period and issue permits for eligible leases in case of environmental permits. He also asked the forest department to bring to their notice any issues regarding the allocation of lands for greenery as an alternative in the case of applications for mining on the lands. It has been ordered to take action against those who are dumping waste from the quarries where mining is currently taking place in the forest lands. Policies that disrupt the environment should not be tolerated under any circumstances and should be specified to the lessee.

The meeting was attended by Neerab Kumar Prasad, Special Chief Secretary (Environment, Forest, Science, and Technology), Gopalakrishna Dwivedi, Principal Secretary (Mines), State Environment Impact Assessment Authority Chairman Venkatrama Reddy, Pradeep Kumar (PCCF, HOFF Forest Department). , Viji Venkatereddy, Director of Mines & Geology, several officials were present.