OISF deployed to curb theft of minor mineral

| | BHUBANESWAR
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OISF deployed to curb theft of minor mineral

Saturday, 11 July 2020 | PNS | BHUBANESWAR

To expedite job-intensive projects in the construction and infrastructure sector, the State Government has started streamlining the minor mineral operations.

Reviewing the progress made so far recently, Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy directed the Revenue Department to identify and operationalise the new sairat sources for filling the gap between demand and supply of minor minerals.

Tripathy said, “Enhancement of legally operational sources will have triple benefit of ensuring supply of material for the construction sector which is quite labour-intensive, containing the theft of minor minerals and increasing the collection of revenue.”

Revenue & Disaster Management Secretary Bishnupada Sethi appraised that as per earlier decisions, the Directorate of Minor Minerals has been made functional and 1,129 new sairat sources have been identified in different districts. With this, the total number of minor mineral sairats have increased to 4,965.

The Chief Secretary directed to identify sand-rich riverbeds on banks of the major rivers like Mahanadi, Baitarani, Brahmani, Rusikulya, Subarnarekha in cooperation with the Departments of Water Resources and Forest & Environment and prepare scientific plans for sand mining. It was decided to allow inter-State transportation of sands through competitive bidding.

The Collectors and SPs were directed to utilise the services of Odisha Industrial Security Force (OISF) and sharpen the squad activities for curbing illegal lifting of the minerals.

Director Minor Minerals Sri Bubhuti Bhusan Das appraised that revenue to the tune of around Rs .37.11 crore has been collected during the months of April and May this fiscal from minor minerals. The process for preparation of mining plan, availing of environmental clearance and timely completion of bidding process for another 1,469 sairats have been brought to an advanced stage.

The Chief Secretary directed to scale up annual revenue generation to Rs 1,000 crore from minor minerals.

OISF forces would be utilised for apprehending the illegal minor mineral transporters. The approved locations for OISF deployment include Cuttack Sadar, Baranga, Jaleswar, Anandapur, Chhtrapur, Bhanjanagar, Dharmasala, Tangi and Ranapur. Besides, one section has been deployed for Jharsuguda, Lakahanpur, Brajarajnagar on a rotation basis.

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