The Government has announced that the
process of granting Environmental Clearance for sustainable sand mining and
mining of minor minerals has been decentralized. The Ministry has created
District Environment Impact Assessment Authority (DEIAA) for proper monitoring
of sand mining. In consultation with the State governments, the Ministry has also
prepared guidelines for sustainable sand mining.
Addressing a press conference here
today, Minister of State (Independent Charge) of Environment, Forest and
Climate Change, Shri Prakash Javadekar, said that the Ministry has taken several policy initiatives and enacted environmental
and pollution control legislations to prevent indiscriminate exploitation of
natural resources and to promote integration of environmental concerns in
developmental projects. The Minister said that one such initiative is to
formulate the policy for mining of minor minerals with special emphasis on
sustainable sand mining. He also said that information technology and information
technology-enabled services will be used to track mined out minerals. The
movement of mined out material and sand will be controlled through Transit
Permit. The security feature of Transit Permit include, printing on IBA
approved MICR paper, Unique Barcode, Unique QR code, Fugitive Ink Background,
Invisible Ink Mark, Void Pantograph and Watermark. Information technology
tools such as bar coding and SMS will be used to monitor the mined out material
from source to destination.
Shri
Javadekar also added that amendments in Environment Impact Assessment (EIA)
Notification, 2006, have been notified in the Gazette of India, vide SO No. 141 (E)
on 15.01.2016. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change had
published a Draft Notification vide SO no. 2588 (E) on September 22, 2015 on
Environmental Clearance for mining of minor minerals, including sand mining,
inviting comments from the public.
The
Notifications inter-alia brought out the following:-
1.
For
the first time, Environmental Clearance power of the Ministry is being
delegated at District level Committee headed by District Magistrate or District
Collector for mining lease area upto 5ha for individual lease and 25ha in
cluster.
2.
For
the first time the procedure
for handling cases of cluster defined and also for one cluster one EIA/EMP and
one public hearing to be conducted.
3.
Four-member
District Level Environment Impact Assessment Authority (DEIAA) is responsible
for grant of environmental clearance for Category ‘B2’ Projects for mining of
minor minerals, for all the districts in the country. The Chairperson of
DEIAA will be District Magistrate or District Collector and the Member
Secretary will be Sub-Divisional Magistrate or Sub-Divisional Officer. The
other two members are DFO and Expert to be nominated by Divisional
Commissioner.
4.
For
the purposes of assisting the Authority for the districts, the Ministry has
also constituted an eleven Member District Level Expert Appraisal Committee
(DEAC) for all the districts of the country. The Chairperson of the DEAC
will be Executive
Engineer, Irrigation Department and Member Secretary will be Assistant Director, or Deputy Director or District
Mines Officer or Geologist in the district. The other members will be from
Sub-Divisional Officer (Forest); representative of remote sensing department or
geology department or state ground water department; occupational health expert
or medical officer; engineer from Zila Parishad; State Pollution Control Board
or Committee; senior most Assistant Engineer, Public Works Department; and
three Experts to be nominated by the Divisional Commissioner.
5.
Preparation
of District Survey Report for sand and river bed mining and mining of other
minor minerals are envisaged.
6.
Simple Application Form
‘1M’ envisaged for mining of minor minerals under category ‘B2’ less
than 5ha introduced.
7.
Simplification
and decentralization of EC process has been introduced. Now small project of
mining of minor minerals to be dealt at DEIAA/DEAC & SEIAA/SEAC level and
larger project at the level of EAC/MoEFCC. The gist of categorization is as
follows:-
A.
EC
proposal of sand mining and other minor mineral mining
on the basis of individual mine lease
Area
of Lease
(Hectare)
|
Category
of
Project
|
Authority
to appraise/ grant EC
|
Authority
to monitor EC compliance
|
0
– 5ha
|
‘B2’
|
DEAC/
DEIAA
|
DEIAA
SEIAA
SPCB
CPCB
MoEFCC
Agency
nominated by MoEFCC
|
>
5 ha and < 25 ha
|
‘B2’
|
SEAC
/
SEIAA
|
≥
25ha and < 50ha
|
‘B1’
|
SEAC/
SEIAA
|
≥
50 ha
|
‘A’
|
EAC/
MoEFCC
|
B.
EC
proposal of sand mining and other minor mineral mining in cluster situation:
Area
of Lease
(Hectare)
|
Category
of
Project
|
Authority
to appraise/ grant EC
|
Authority
to monitor EC compliance
|
Cluster area
of mine leases up to 5 ha
|
‘B2’
|
DEAC/
DEIAA
|
DEIAA
SEIAA
SPCB
CPCB
MoEFCC
Agency
nominated by MoEFCC
|
Cluster area
of Mine leases > 5 ha and < 25 ha with no individual lease > 5 ha
|
‘B2’
|
DEAC/
DEIAA
|
Cluster of
mine leases of area ≥ 25 hectares with individual lease size < 50ha
|
‘B1’
|
SEAC/
SEIAA
|
Cluster of any
size with any of the individual lease ≥ 50ha
|
‘A’
|
EAC/
MoEFCC
|
Certain
activities have been exempted from Environment Clearance. These include –
Ø Extraction
of ordinary clay or sand, manually, by the Kumhars (Potter) to prepare earthen
pots, lamp, toys, etc. as per their customs.
Ø Extraction
of ordinary clay or sand, manually, by earthen tile makers who prepare earthen
tiles.
Ø Removal
of sand deposits on agricultural field after flood by farmers.
Ø Customary
extraction of sand and ordinary earth from sources situated in Gram Panchayat
for personal use or community work in village.
Ø Community
works like de-silting of village ponds or tanks, construction of village roads,
ponds, ‘bunds’ undertaken in Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment and
Guarantee Schemes, other government sponsored schemes, and community efforts.
Ø Dredging
and de-silting of dams, reservoirs, weirs, barrages, river, and canals for the
purpose of their maintenance, upkeep and disaster management.
Ø Digging
of well for irrigation or drinking water; and digging of foundation for
buildings not requiring prior environmental clearance.
Ø Excavation
of ordinary earth or clay for plugging of any breach caused in canal, ‘nala’,
drain, water body, etc., to deal with any disaster or flood like situation
upon orders of District Collector, or District Magistrate.
Ø Activities
declared by State Government under legislations or rules as non-mining activity
with concurrence of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
***
HK