Centre has asked the governments of Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh to speed up mines auction even as it has lauded the efforts of six other states including Gujarat and Rajasthan for starting the process.
Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have initiated the auction of 31 mineral blocks, while MP, AP and Odisha is yet to initiate the process.
Centre raised concerns with the states at the coordination-cum-empowered committee (CCEC) meeting earlier this month. CCEC is chaired by the Union Mines Secretary.
At the meeting Mines Secretary Balvinder Kumar "pointed out that some state governments are still lagging behind", a senior government official said.
He asked MP, Odisha and AP to expedite and issue the NITs (Notice Inviting Tenders) of mineral blocks identified for the first phase of auction at the earliest, he added.
According to the data provided by the state governments at the CCEC meeting, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat have issued NITs for five mineral blocks each, Jharkhand and Rajasthan for three each, Maharashtra for four and Karnataka for 11.