Kolkata: West Bengal Mineral Development and Trading Corporation (WBMDTCL) hopes to commence physical mining of minor minerals on private land by March 2024.
The state government in November 2022, introduced a new Raiyati policy for the mining of minor minerals on private land and the online portal for application was launched on December 1, 2022. “We have received more than 200 applications with Letter of Intent (LoI) being issued against more than 120 such applications. A majority of them have made their mining plan and already sought environmental clearance. Once they approach us with environmental clearance, we will make agreements and we are optimistic that physical mining will start by March this year,” a senior official of WBMDTCL said.
The applications have come from districts like Bankura, Purulia, Birbhum, West Midnapore and Jhargram. The majority of the applications are for the mining of black stone which is used in construction activities. The rest are mainly for mining of fireclay, china clay, granite etc.
According to the policy, an interested Raiyat/ Group of Raiyats/ Company as Raiyat having at least one hectare of land, under which minerals are found, can apply for a mining licence. On receipt of such application, concerned land department officials check the documents and authenticity of ownership of land at field level and then send a recommendation to the state nodal
agency WBMDTCL.
The WBMDTCL then rejects/ grants a provisional LoI to the raiyat. The raiyat then submits an amount equal to 1000 times the royalty of the respective minor mineral per hectare before the issuance of a provisional LoI. Based on this LoI, the raiyat has the permission to establish the mineable reserve, get mining plan prepared by a qualified agency and get it approved by the competent authority. Following this, he submits an application for environmental clearance (EC) to State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority.
After the EC is received, along with all statutory clearances / approvals the raiyat will have to apply for a grant of mining lease. He will have to pay the residual amount of the mining lease fee after adjusting the amount paid at the time of issuance of the provisional LoI. The lease shall be granted for 5 years or till the reserve is exhausted, whichever is earlier, with a provision of extension for up to 5 years at a time. The lessee shall pay royalty, cess and other statutory payments for obtaining an excavation permit.
“The state government’s aim is to strengthen the raiyats and the tribals in the western belt,” a senior Nabanna official said.