16 mineral blocks for auction soon: Center to Chhattisgarh

The Chhattisgarh government will auction 16 new iron ore and limestone blocks in the coming months, the Center was informed on Friday. Speaking in a virtual meeting with Union Minister of Coal and Mines Pralhad Joshi, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel briefed him on the development. State officials said Joshi lauded the state for taking the initiative to auction the mineral blocks as per the directions of the Centre. During the meeting, also attended by senior secretaries of Ministry of Coal and State, Baghel urged Joshi to reserve Bailadila Iron Ore Mine-1 for Chhattisgarh Mineral Development Corporation (CMDC) to promote iron ore based industrialization in Bastar region. the requested. He said such a move could be a good way to end the problem of Left Wing Extremism in the region. According to officials, Baghel also requested the Union Minister to amend the Centre’s order to make District Collectors of District Mineral Foundation (DMF) ex-officio chairman and all MPs as ex-officio members. According to officials, Joshi assured the attendees that he would take necessary steps on the demands of the state.

He also lauded the state for being the first state in the country to auction mines as per the directions of the Centre. He also sought an early transfer of Rs 4,100 crore, the amount recovered from private coal mines operating before 2014, as per the Supreme Court order. In response, Joshi directed officials to send a proposal to the Center to use funds from the National Mineral Exploration Trust (NMET) to ascertain the availability of base metals in the Bodal area under Ambagarh outpost of Rajnandgaon. In a series of tweets after the meeting, Joshi said, “After the mining reforms, had a meeting with Chhattisgarh CM Shri @bhupeshbaghel ji. Discussed several ongoing issues related to coal and mineral mining in the state. The government is working with the state administration to facilitate the speedy operation of the auctioned mines. In another tweet, he said, “The Hon’ble CM has assured auction of more than 16 blocks in the next 2 months. These will be from the long blocked mines, which have reserves of 1,192 metric tonnes worth around Rs 1.9 lakh crore. “.