National Mineral Policy 2006 - Department of Mines

again and the State Mines Department should be authorised to grant or renew the MLto the individual lease holder subject to the fulfilment of the conditions stipulated inthe ‘in principle’ approval, such as transfer and mutation of non-forest land in favourof the Forest Department, payment for compensatory afforestation and NPV, and suchother stipulations as are normally put in by MOEF before conveying the formal(second stage) clearance. This would reduce the procedural steps in obtainingclearances. The state governments can report to the Central government on thecompliance of the conditions mentioned in the ‘in principle’ approval by the useragency. In other words, the Committee would recommend that the second stageclearance may be delegated to the state governments. Further, in the case of renewalsof existing leases, if the MOEF has already given its approval under FCA, there is norationale for going through the whole process again when the lease becomes due forrenewal. Unless there are serious adverse effects on the forest and wildlife orenvironment in an area or there is violation of the conditions mentioned in the initialletter of approval, the approval of applications for renewal should be no more than aformality. [3.31]• When proposals for renewal of MLs are submitted for clearance under the FCA, 1980,the state governments often resort to arbitrary reductions in the lease area withoutassigning any reasons for the same. The industry has proposed that since factors suchas depth of mine and consistency of ore body decide the area required for mining aviable deposit, the area applied for mining should not be arbitrarily reduced whileaccording forest clearance or at the time of renewal of MLs. The Committeerecommends that ad hoc reductions in the area applied for renewal under forestclearance be done away with. [3.32]• Mining being a site-specific activity, diversion of forest land for mining should beconsidered for a longer period of, say, 50–100 years or till the exhaustion of the orebody. The Committee recommends that existing leases should be automaticallyrenewed till the ore in the deposit lasts provided that periodic monitoring reports ofthe Regional Officers of the MOEF during the lease period indicate compliance withthe conditions stipulated during grant of the diversion permission. If approval of206