Quarries of minor minerals should be exempted from environmental clearance

Bhopal: In a letter to Union Minister for Environment and Forests Shri Prakash Javadekar, Chief Minister Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan has urged that quarries of minor minerals should be exempted from provisions of environmental clearance.
In the letter, the Chief Minister said that the Union Ministry for Environment and Forests had made environmental clearance mandatory for less than 5 hectare mining projects through a notification on September 9, 2013. Quarries of minor minerals in Madhya Pradesh have also come under purview of this notification. Through a memorandum on December 24, 2013, the Union Ministry for Environment and Forests said that sand quarries of less than 5 hectare should not be considered for environmental clearance.
The Chief Minister wrote that in an order on February 27, 2012, Supreme Court had observed that all states should pay attention to amending their rules for mining of minor minerals in accordance with guiding principles issued by the Union Ministry for Environment and Forests. Madhya Pradesh has amended Madhya Pradesh Gaun Khanij Niyam-1996. Thus, Supreme Court’s directive has been complied with.
The Chief Minister said that there are 6,897 quarries of minor minerals of less than 5 hectare are in Madhya Pradesh. It takes long in obtaining environmental clearance for construction and development works. It causes delay in granting and operation of quarries of minor minerals. This creates the major problem of non-availability of minor minerals for construction and development works and also unemployment.
In the letter, the Chief Minister urged Shri Javadekar to exempt quarries of minor minerals from provisions of environmental clearance.