The Chhattisgarh government is ready with a shortlist of 16 limestone and iron ore blocks that it hopes to auction in 2-4 months. These are largely virgin areas, some of which had been explored in the past by private companies whose claim may have lapsed after recent amendment to the mining laws.
In a meeting with Union Minister of Mines, Prahlad Joshi, on Friday, Bhupesh Baghel, who leads the Congress government in the state, reminded the Centre of the state’s request, pending since Jun’17, to reserve Deposit 1 of the Bailadila range in favour of the Chhattisgarh State Development Corporation.
Several blocks in the list lie in the Naxal-affected Bastar district where even the public sector enterprise, NMDC, is sometimes weighed down by issues of “law and order”. Access and presence of local administration in these long-neglected areas is far improved today, through roads and schools. However, the Baghel government does not want to be dismissive of the local tribal population’s very real suspicion of private mining companies. Or, of the concerns potential investors may have in doing business in Bastar.
It is testing the waters with a deposit (of 125.27 mt of indicated resources) in the Bailadila range. The deposits were explored by Jindal Steel & Power Ltd, whose claim under Section 10a2b is no longer valid. In an amendment to the MMDR Act in Mar’21, the Centre invalidated all such pending claims — running into hundreds. While many of the claimants have gone to court for being denied mining rights recognised in the 2015 Act, officials believe these deposits can still be auctioned. “There is no stay against their auction. With the promise to compensate them for their exploration expenses, the Centre — which has the right to change laws – has, I believe, strengthened its position,” said an official speaking to SteelMint on condition of anonymity.
Keen to bring in more mines to the market and to get them operational soon, the mines minister has been having discussions with every important mineral-bearing state. Tweeting about his meeting with Baghel on Friday, Joshi said, “Honourable CM has assured to auction more than 16 blocks over the next two months. These will be from long-standing blocked mines that have reserves of 1,192 million tonnes worth nearly Rs 1.9 lakh crore.” He also asked the Chhattisgarh government to expedite the operationalisation of recently auctioned commercial coal blocks.
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