File Photo: Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar (Reuters Photo)
To put a check on illegal mining and end 'mafiaraj' in the sector, the government today came out with a draft policy which will use advance technologies like satellite surveillance to regulate mining of sand and other minor minerals.
Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said that the draft minor mineral sustainable mining policy notification has been issued and after taking in suggestions and public opinion, the new policy will be implemented from January 1 next year.
The new policy will make use of combination of satellite surveillance, high-security receipts and decentralised decision-making to regulate mining of sand and other minor minerals along the nation's rivers.
"A big problem in the country was illegal mining and 'mafiaraj' especially in the sand mining sector. We are going to make drastic changes in the system.
"We have come out with a new mining policy. The draft notification of minor mineral sustainable mining policy has been published in the gazette," Mr Javadekar told reporters while adding that sand, mud, marble, granite, stone and others fall under the category of minor minerals.
The Union Minister said that Supreme Court had given a decision in February 2012 which said one had to take environment clearance for even mining on one hectare.
He said that after taking over, his ministry looked at the best practises of the world, consulted the states, officials undertook visits and deliberations were done with experts.
"We have made a policy which is scientific, sustainable, technology driven, user friendly, decentralised and has strong monitoring system.
"This is a draft and will remain for 60 days. We will take in suggestions. After deliberations, on Janary 1, 2016, this policy will be implemented and a new era of sustainable mining will start in India," he said.
"At places, there was so much illegal sand mining that many rivers had dried up in those areas while people and farmers were facing a lot of problems.
"The policy will stop illegal mining, black marketing and help increase state's revenues. This was the mafia and for this officials and RTI activists were getting killed," he said.
Elaborating on the draft, the Minister said that District Survey Report of each district in the country will be prepared and each river will taken in as one ecological system.
The use of satellite, ground truthing and sensors will be done to ascertain how much sand has accumulated at a particular place. Only that much material will be allowed to be mined out which is deposited annually.
The Minister said that the District Level Environment Impact Assessment Authority (DEIAA) headed by the District collector to be assisted by District Level Expert Appraisal Committee (DEAC) have been assigned the responsibility of granting environmental clearance upto five hectare of mine lease area for minor minerals mainly sand.
For area less than 50 hectares, it will be given by the state environment ministry while permission for mining in an area above 50 hectares will come to the Centre, he said.
He said that stringent monitoring of movement of mined out material from source to destination using information technology tools like bar coding, SMS and others will be done.
While till date, no authentic data of how much sand is being mined was available. The new policy will generate real time data on minded out sand while the transit permit have security features like unique bar code, QR code, fugitive ink background, invisible ink mark, watermark and others.
Mr Javadekar said that small miners cannot afford Environment Impact Assessment which is why under the new policy, cluster wise assessment will be done.
Under the new draft policy, extraction of clay or sand by potters, earthen tile makers, removal of sand deposited on agricultural field by farmers, extraction for community work, dredging and desilting and others have been exempted.
Blaming the previous UPA regime, Mr Javadekar said that when he took over in 2014, he found that no new licenses had been issued, there was corruption and people were facing a lot of problems and the then government had wasted 27 months.
"No new licenses were being issued. Those who did good work, their businesses got shut down and those who did it illegally, they flourished. There was heavy corruption. People had to face problems. Unfortunately the UPA government failed to follow up on it and create a new policy. They lost valuable 27 months," he said.
Mr Javadekar said that the objective of the new policy is to strike a balance between increasing demand of sand and sustainable sand mining practices.
He said that a mine lease site of upto five hectare are required to have android-based smartphone.
Large size plots (more than five hectare) should have CCTV camera, PC, internet connection, power back-up, access control of mine lease site and arrangement for weighment or approximation of weight of mined out mineral on the basis of volume of the trailer of vehicle used.
He said that the monitoring of mined out mineral, environmental clearance, EC conditions and enforcement of Environment Management Plan (EMP) will be ensured by the District Collector and the State Pollution Control Board.
The monitoring of enforcement of EC conditions can be done by the Central Pollution Control Board, Environment Ministry and the agency nominated by Ministry for the purpose.
Replying to a question on when India will declare its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCS), Mr Javadekar said that it will be done very soon.
"INDC will be given on time, will be ambitious, progressive, will have all elements of finance and technology, while mitigation and adaptation efforts will be there. All these will there in our INDCs," he said.