Lok Sabha Question No. 882 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-03-01
Subject: Environmental Clearance for Mining
Ministry: ENVIRONMENT,  FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE
Asked by: JYOTIRADITYA MADHAVRAO SCINDIA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 882 TO BE ANSWERED ON 01.03.2016

## Environmental Clearance for Mining

## 882. SHRI JYOTIRADITYA M. SCINDIA:

Will the Minister of ENVIRONMENT, FORESTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE be pleased to state:

- (a)whether the Government has recently notified a policy of granting environmental clearances for minor minerals including sand and has come out with guidelines to monitor present mining activities;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether Global Positioning System (GPS) and bar coding system have been enforced to track vehicles  of  illegal  miners  and  those  who  indulge  in  exploiting  natural  resources  beyond permissible limits; and
- (d) if so, the extent to which such guidelines are being adhered to by the State Governments?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER  OF  STATE  (INDEPENDENT  CHARGE)  FOR  ENVIRONMENT,  FOREST  AND CLIMATE CHANGE

## (SHRI   PRAKASH JAVADEKAR)

(a) and  (b): The  Ministry  of  Environment,  Forest  and  Climate  Change  has  notified  the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2006, as amended from time to time, under the  Environment  (Protection)  Act,  1986  which  deals  with  the  process  to  grant  Environmental Clearance. Further, the Ministry has notified the amendments in the EIA Notification, 2006, vide SO No. 141 (E) on 15.01.2016for minor minerals with special focus on sustainable sand mining. The Ministry, vide notification dated 15.01.2016, for the first time, has delegated the Authority of Environmental  Clearance  up  to  5  hectare  of  individual  mining  lease  of  minor  minerals  and  25 hectares in clusters to the District Environment Impact Assessment Authority (DEIAA) headed by the  District  Magistrate/  District  Collector.  A  District  Expert  Appraisal  Committee  (DEAC)  has also been constituted under the chairmanship of the Executive Engineer, Irrigation Department to assist  the  DEIAA.  The  Ministry  has  also  notified  the  constitution  of  DEIAA  and  DEAC,  vide Notification SO No. 190 (E) dated 20.01.2016.

(c) and (d): The notification, inter-alia, emphasises the procedure for monitoring of sand /river bed mining w.r.t.the monitoring of the mined out material which is key to the successful implementation  of  sustainable  Environment  Management  Plan.  So  use  of  IT  and  IT  enabled services  for  effective  monitoring  along  with  process  reengineering  has  been  made  a  part  of  the notification.    The  gist  of  monitoring  mechanism,  inter-alia,  are  (i)  The  movement  of  sand  is controlled through Transit Permit. The security feature of Transit Permit should be as Printed on IBA  approved  MICR  paper;  Unique  Barcode;  Unique  QR  code;  Fugitive  Ink  Background; Invisible Ink Mark; Void Pantograph and Watermark; (ii) Use of IT and IT enabled services for effective monitoring of the quantity of mined out material and transportation along with process reengineering has been made a part of the Notification; (iii) Stringent Monitoring of movement of mined  out  material  from  source  to  destination  using  Information  Technology  tools:  bar  coding, SMS etc. Till date there is no authentic data on how much sand is being mined, this system will generate real time data on mined out sand; and (iv) The route of vehicle from source to destination shall  be  tracked  through  the  system  using  check  points,  Radio-frequency  identification  (RFID) Tags, and Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking.

The monitoring of mined out mineral, environmental clearance conditions and enforcement of  Environment  Management  Plan  is  ensured  by  the  DEIAA,  SEIAA  and  the  State  Pollution Control Board or Committee. The status of compliance of stipulated conditions of the environmental clearances of different projects, including sand mining projects, is monitored by ten Regional  Offices  of  this  Ministry  in  the  Country.The  Ministry  has  also  requested  all  the  Chief Ministers to implement the Notification in true spirit in order to make environmentally sustainable sand mining in the Country.

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