133 Mineral Blocks Auctioned By State Govts To Private Companies During Last Five Years: Centre

The Centre on Monday (13 February) said that the state governments auctioned as many as 133 mineral blocks to private companies during the last five years.

Further, a total of 19,267.47 hectares of forest land has been diverted due to mining activities in the last five years, the Parliament was told.

"During the last five years, 133 mineral blocks have been auctioned by various state governments to private companies and approval of the Central government was conveyed to the various state governments for 16 proposals for reservation of area under Section 17A of the MMDR Act 1957 in favour of government companies," Union Minister of Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs Pralhad Joshi said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today (13 February).

"As per the information received from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, a total of 19267.47 hectares of forest land has been diverted due to mining activities in the last 5 years," the minister said.

The minister said that the Mines and Mineral (Development & Regulation) Act, 1957 was amended with effect from 12 January 2015 whereby auction regime was introduced for grant of mineral concessions to bring in greater transparency and remove discretion at all levels in grant of mineral concessions.

"The auction is carried out by the respective State Governments," he said.

In addition to auction, mineral concessions are also granted to the Government companies through area reservation as per Section 17A of the MMDR Act 1957, the minister added.