CM reviews development works done through DMF

the pioneer Saturday, 08 July 2017 | Staff Reporter | Naya Raipur

Chief Minister Raman Singh on Friday chaired a meeting of District Mineral Foundation at the Mantralaya here.

The Chief Minister reviewed the development works underway in various districts from the funds utilised from DMF.

Chhattisgarh collected Rs 712.04 crores under ‘District Mineral Foundations’(DMFs) from all the 27 districts of the State where the Foundation had been established, the Central Government had informed last year.

Notably, the Mines and Mineral (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 (MMDR Act, 1957) was amended through the MMDR Amendment Act, 2015. One of the amendment provisions relates to introduction of section 9B which provides for the establishment of District Mineral Foundation (DMF) in any district affected by mining related operations.

The objective of the DMF is to work for the interest and benefit of persons, and areas affected by mining related operations.

The Union Ministry of Mines has also commenced the process for pilot launch of Mining Surveillance System (MSS) for keeping vigil on illegal mining of even minor minerals in Chhattisgarh besides two other States, officials informed.

The process is underway to launch a system for minor minerals in coalition with the State Governments. The States of Haryana, Telangana and Chhattisgarh have been selected for a pilot launch, officials informed.

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy and Mines, Piyush Goyal had launched the MSS in New Delhi recently.

The Union Ministry of Mines, through Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM), has developed the MSS, in coordination with Bhaskaracharya Institute for Space Applications and Geo-informatics (BISAG), Gandhi Nagar and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY), to use space technology for curbing illegal mining activity in the country.

Been developed under the Digital India programme, MSS is one of the first such surveillance systems developed in the world using space technology. The current system of monitoring of illegal mining activityis based on local complaints and unconfirmed information. There is no robust mechanism to monitor the action taken on such complaints.

The Automatic software leveraging image processing technology generates automatic triggers of unauthorised activities. These triggers will be studied at a Remote Sensing Control Centre of IBM and then transmitted to the district level mining officials for field verification.

A check for illegality in operation is conducted and reported back using a mobile app.

A user-friendly mobile app has been created which can be used by these officials to submit compliance reports of their inspections. The mobile app also aims to establish a participative monitoring system where the citizens also can use this app and report unusual mining activity.

The advantages of remote sensing technology based monitoring system are that it is Transparent (Public will be provided an access to the

system); Bias-free and Independent (The system has no human interference); Deterrence Effect (‘Eyes watching from the sky’); Quicker Response and Action (The mining areas will be monitored regularly. Sensitive areas will be monitored more frequently); Effective Follow-up (action taken on triggers will be followed-up at various levels like DMG, State Mining Secretary, State Office and Headquarters Office of IBM and Ministry of Mines, GoI).

There are in total 3843 mining leases of major minerals in India. Out of which, there are 1710 working mines and 2133 non-working mines.

The Pradhan Mantri Khanij Kshetra Kalyan Yojana (PMKKKY) has been launched by the Government which will be implemented through funds collected under DMF.

At least 60% of PMKKKY funds will be utilised for high priority areas like— (i) drinking water supply; (ii) environment preservation and pollution control measures; (iii) health care (iv)education; (v) welfare of women and children; (vi) welfare of aged and disabled people; (vii) skill development; and (viii) sanitation. The rest of the funds will be utilised undertaking works like for— (i) physical infrastructure; (ii) irrigation; (iii) energy and watershed development; and (iv) any other measures for enhancing environmental quality in mining district. The Directorate of Geology & Mining in Chhattisgarh had been the process of carrying out iron ore exploration in the notified areas of Kanker and Narayanpur districts of Bastar division.

The exploration target is for the 12th plan period (2012-17) and is being carried out in Rowghat and 10 other localities, officials stated.

The Chhattisgarh Government had targetted to carry out survey and mapping for 1,000 square kms of State’s area during 2015-16 for geological exploration during the 12th five year plan (2012-17).

The minerals to be explored as Bauxite, limestone, Iron ore, Coal, Dolomite, Manganese and Granite, officials stated.

The Chhattisgarh Directorate of Geology & Mining had been engaged in exploration of mineral resources as well as minerals development and regulation work in the State.