What was desired for long in respect of bringing in the element of more transparency in allotment of mineral blocks in Jammu and Kashmir, has now been decided upon in the shape of introduction of e- auctioning of mining activities thus ‘open’ auctioning would now cease to operate. Department of Geology and Mining thus shall be doing it in respect of 173 blocks which besides putting an end to illegal mining, shall also result in enhanced revenue to the Government. The revised procedure is not only comparatively simple and accessible through departmental website and portal but wide publicity through print and electronic media shall make it further transparent and afford a level field to all participating in the process of e- auctioning.
While notices to the extent have already been issued to eleven districts of the Union Territory where mining shall now onwards be duly regulated keeping in view environmental considerations, at the same time there was enough scope of e-auctioning of more blocks. However, obtaining mandatory clearance by the successful bidders from concerned departments and competent authority should not be time consuming as that would defeat the purpose of streamlining the mining procedure in clear, open and permitted ways. A time frame right from declaring of successful bidders to obtaining of mining lease should be fixed. Shortage of sand and gravels etc faced by the public is likely to be over once mining activities presently suspended are restarted without any compromise with environmental concerns.
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