RAJ KUMAR
Ranchi, Feb.17: Land lease status of 49 mines for which the Jharkhand State Mineral Development Corporation (JSMDC) is searching for agencies to manage and has also invited tenders for the same is required to be verified.
An aspiring bidder talked about the requirement while discussing the legal aspects of mining in Jharkhand.
“It is expected from any agency engaged in mining activity to first take the lease of the land in its possession before carrying out mining activity or invite tender to select an agency to manage it. But we so far do not have any idea when the JSDMC got a lease of the land on which it wants to carry out mining activities. I tried my level best to get the deed number, registration number of the land but failed to get the same,” the aspiring bidder said.
The bidder said: “The mines are located in Ranchi, Palamu, Gumla, Saraikela-Kharsawan, East Singhbhum, Khunti, Latehar, Lohardaga, Dhanbad, Simdega and Hazaribagh but concerned officials could not tell when JSMDC was granted the lease of the land for mining activities,” the bidder said.
Mines director Amit Kumar could not be available for his comment on the matter. A Directorate official said he was busy with some excise department work as he also has additional charge of the department.
Mines secretary Pooja Singhal, who is also JSMDC managing director, expressed her ignorance regarding the technicalities and directed the question to GM (mines) of JSMDC, Uttam Kumar Biswas.
Biswas defended the action of the JSMDC saying the ‘lease was granted to JSMDC sometime in July and August’ but when asked to share details he expressed his inability.
Mining experts said the JSMDC should make this point clear and share it when the lease agreement was executed.
“Mining lease is a legal contract for the right to work a mine and extract the mineral or other valuable deposits from it under prescribed conditions of time, price, rental, or royalties. Working without a mining lease gives scope of malpractices,” the mining expert said.
