Kunderkocha (East Singhbhum) Dec. 2: The government is planning to invite private parties to undertake diamond mining in the state.
“We have stumbled upon a pretty decent reserve of diamonds in two places near Gumla after a preliminary survey. We are planning a full-scale exploration to find out the exact quality and quantity of the reserves. If the findings show promise, we will invite private parties to undertake mining in diamond,” chief minister, Arjun Munda said here today at the inauguration of the first private gold mines in the state.
Government has granted a 25-year lease to Manmohan Mineral Industries to carry out gold mining in 19.5 hectares of land in the area.
Munda said the government would go all out to invite private parties in the mining sector. “When we have enough mineral reserves why not use them to generate revenue and employment for locals. Our state is the first in the country to permit a private party to undertake gold mining.
“If the diamond reserve in the Gumla belt is found to be good, we would follow the same policy there too,” the chief minister said.
Munda, who also holds the mining portfolio, said: “The government is seriously toying with the idea of increasing its annual budget outlay under the plan head by Rs 6,000 crore in the next five years so that we can give more importance to development and employment schemes.
“But to increase the annual budget we have to search for various options to garner our resources. And one of the means to increase the state’s revenue is to promote mining which has a lot of potential.” The state’s annual budget under the plan head is about Rs 3,000 crore now and the government intends to hike the figure to Rs 9,000 crore within the next five years in phase.
“The task of increasing the annual budget in the next five years is no doubt a difficult task, but it is not impossible. If we plan things in the right manner, we can mobilise more revenue,” the chief minister said.
He said he has set a target for the mining sector to increase revenue collection from the present Rs 850 crore to Rs 3,000 crore in the next five years.
