Rajasthan has largest area under mining leases in country

Written By Unknown on Kamis, 12 Juni 2014 | 22.33

JAIPUR: If the ministry of mines is to be believed, Rajasthan has the largest geographical area under mining leases in the country. Little is left to imagination how along with rampant illegal mining, the state's natural resources are being plundered.

According to the ministry, in the last financial year, out of the total 5,30,232.93 ha under mining in the country, 1,16,009.93 ha was in Rajasthan alone, which is the largest area under mining leases granted by any state. This is followed by Odisha with 74,990.98 ha under mining and Andhra Pradesh 69,607.07 ha. Correspondingly, the number of leases granted by the state was 3,085 which is followed by Andhra Pradesh with 2,031 leases and Gujarat with 1,162 mining leases over 29,430.04 ha.

In Rajasthan, a lot of these leases are accorded in the forest areas. This leads to reduced forest cover and increase in temperatures in the desert region. "The mining activity has a close linkage with environment and forests. Mining exerts pressure on the environment at every stage of mineral processing, be it exploration, extraction, processing, and post closure operations of mines. A significant part of state's known mineral reserves are in areas which are under forest cover," confirms the state dossier on Rajasthan Mining Policy 2011.

"A lot of leases in the state are sanctioned in the forest areas. While some just have in-principle approvals, a lot of them don't have the final approval. We have seen a lot cases where after mining, the mandatory reclaiming of land is not done by the miners. The Forest Conservation Act is not taken seriously and this can prove very dangerous," said an official.

For instance, in the proposal for renewal of mining of copper in Chandmari Project in Jhunjhunu Forest Division diversion, out of 148.45 ha, 95.81 ha of protected forest land had to be diverted for mining.

In another project, the forest advisory committee had recommends proposal involving felling of more than 7.5 lakh trees in the diversion of about 5,000 ha of forest land. EIA Resource and Response Centre (ERC) confirms that Rajasthan is leading with largest diversion of 1,835 ha, i.e., 41% of the total diversion for just one proposal which also involves felling of two lakh trees, the largest number for a single project.

Yet another inspection/verification report of the Union ministry of environment and forest (MOEF) submitted in the Supreme Court in another case, states that out of 53 mining leases renewed after 16.02.2002, 52 were on forest land. On the other hand, the state government confirms that in just 12 cases, 1,498.2 ha of forest land has been diverted for mining of since 1980. The officials are, however, tight-lipped about the total forest area in the state being used for mining.

"Though compensatory afforestation is supposed to be done for all the forest diversion cases but we all know about the dismal track record of afforestation in the country. And you can not redo a natural forest," said Pushp Jain director, ERC.

According to the ministry in the last financial year, out of the total 5,30232.93 Ha under mining in the country, 1,16009.93 Ha alone is under mining in Rajasthan which is the largest area under mining leases granted by any state. This is followed by Odisha with 74990.98 Ha under mining and Andhra Pradesh with 69607.07 Ha being mined. Correspondingly, the number of leases granted by the state was 3085 which is followed by Andhra Pradesh with 2031 leases and Gujarat with 1162 mining leases over 29430.04 Ha.

While Rajasthan also has the largest geographical area in the country, a lot of these leases are accorded in forest areas. This on the flip side leads to reduced forest cover and increase in temperatures in the desert region. "The mining activity has a close linkage with environment and forests and is often in conflict. Mining exerts pressure on environment at every stage of mineral processing i.e. exploration, extraction, processing, and post closure operations of mines. A significant part of state's known mineral reserves are in areas which are under forest cover," confirms the state dossier on Rajasthan Mining Policy 2011.

"A lot of leases in the state are sanctioned in the forest areas. While some just have principal approvals a lot of them don't have the final approval. We have seen in a lot cases where after mining, the mandatory reclaiming of land is not done by the miners. Forest conservation Act is not taken seriously and this can prove very dangerous," said an official.

For instance in proposal for renewal of mining of Copper in Chandmari Project in Jhunjhunu Forest Division diversion, out of 148.45 Ha, 95.81 ha of protected forest land had to be diverted for mining. In another project Forest Advisory Committee had recommends proposal involving felling of more than 7.5 lakh trees in the diversion of about 5000 ha of forest land. EIA Resource and Response Centre (ERC) confirms that Rajasthan is leading with largest diversion of 1835 ha i.e. 41 per cent of the total diversion for just one proposal which also involves felling of 2 Lakh trees, the largest number of trees for a single project.

Yet another inspection/verification report of the Union ministry of environment and forest (MOEF) submitted in the Supreme Court in another case, states that out of 53 mining leases renewed after 16.02.2002, 52 were on forest land . On the other hand the state government confirms that in just 12 cases, 1498.2 Ha of forest land has been diverted for mining of since 1980. The officials are however tight lipped about the total forest area in the state being used for mining.

"Though Compensatory afforestation is supposed to be done for all the forest diversion cases but we all know about the dismal track record of afforestation in the country. And you can not redo a natural forest," said Pushp Jain director, ERC.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/followceleb.cms?alias=Rajasthan Mining Policy,Ministry of Mines,mining in Rajasthan,area under mining leases


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