Mallick to attend Mines Ministers' meet at Jaipur today

Jaipur: Odisha Mines minister Prafulla Mallick and Mines Secretary Deepak Mohanty will attend a meeting organized by the Union Mines Ministry at Jaipur in Rajasthan on Friday.

Mallick and Mohanty are likely to present Odisha’s demand for simplification of the auction of identified mines at the meeting.

Besides, they will urge the Centre to expedite forest and environment clearance for extraction of minerals.

In Odisha, only one out of the eight identified iron ore mines has been notified for auction so far. The State will seek the cooperation of the Centre in getting necessary clearances to expedite the process.

The meeting, to be attended by Mines ministers and officials of other States as well, will discuss seven issues. Among them are the process to expedite mines auction process under the MMDR (Amendment) Act, execution of District Mineral Fund (DMF) in mining affected districts and ways to stop irregularities in the sector and implementation of Minor Mineral Rules in the country.