New Delhi, Aug 26 (IANS) Mines Minister B.K. Handique Thursday said his ministry was working to finalise a new legislation to give more powers to the government to investigate complaints of illegal mining and create a National Mineral Regulatory Authority.
Replying to a discussion in the Rajya Sabha on illegal mining, he said the government was planning to set up special courts to deal with cases of illegal mining and take stringent steps such as cancelling permission to miners indulging in malpractices.
He said there were plans to make tribals stakeholders in mining projects by giving them a share of profit.
The minister said that states were also being nudged to have better regulation to check illegal mining.
Participating in the debate, Leader of Opposition Arun Jaitley said that mindless export of extracted minerals was transferring the country’s valuable national resources to foreign competitors.
Pointing to the royalty and tax structure on mineral wealth, he said ‘private pockets are enriched while state gets a pittance.’
Communist Party of India-Marxist’s (CPI-M) Sitaram Yechury called for nationalisation of minerals.
