National Mineral Policy 2006 - Department of Mines

government at the Secretariat. A letter of intent is issued after the minister concerned hasapproved the individual application on file. If Central approval is required the proposal is sentto the Central government where the Ministry of Mines may obtain verification fromGSI/IBM and then obtain orders of the minister on file. The approval is then sent to the stategovernment for executing the lease. If any query is raised at any level in this entire chain thepapers may be sent back down the chain and reprocessed again up the same ladder.2.4 While acceptance of applications at the Collectorate instead of the Directorate orSecretariat may have the advantage of quicker consideration it complicates matters in caseswhere the area applied for, though contiguous, is spread over more than one district. MostRPs are for large areas and are invariably covered by more than one district. With LAPLs andPLs of 500 sq. km now contemplated, this problem of multiple applications for a singleconcession can only become more complicated.2.5 Most state governments, especially governments of prominent mineral producingstates, have independent Departments of Mining and Geology. At the Secretariat, theDepartment is headed by a full-time Secretary. In some states, the Department may be a partof another Department such as the Industries or Labour Department. Below the Secretariat,there are field-level organisations in the form of DMGs headed by a Director. In some states,there may be separate Directors in-charge of Mines and of Geology. The field formation ofthe Directorate is constituted by District Mining Officers (DMO) and Sub-divisional MiningOfficers, assisted by Mining Inspectors. In some states, there are Deputy Directors of Miningand Geology as well, who are in charge of a group of districts.APPLICATION PROCESSING: TIME AND MOTION ANALYSIS2.6 An applicant for RP/PL/ML is required to file an application in the prescribed formataccompanied by the requisite fees and other documents as prescribed in the office of theDMO of the concerned district. The DMO, though reporting on technical matters to theDeputy Director or Director, is in many states administratively a part of the DistrictCollector’s office and works on behalf of the District Collector for the mining sector. A Timeand Motion analysis conducted in 2004 by IBM shows that the receiving clerk in the52