Bhubaneswar, April 25: Union mines secretary Anup Pujari today said the focus of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2015, was to find out errors of commission, not on the errors of omission.

During an interaction session, organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Odisha chapter, here today, Pujari said: "The new legislation has helped in immediate commencement of work."

Stressing on the importance of sustainable mining, Pujari spoke on how the MMDR Act could improve the infrastructure of mineral-rich areas and urged the mining sector to emphasise on cost-effective techniques.

Chief secretary G.C. Pati, who also spoke on the occasion, focussed on sustainable development by virtue of responsible mining. He suggested that the mines and mineral-based industries should explore a mechanism that would be win-win for both the stakeholders.

Steel and mines secretary R.K. Sharma spoke on the importance of green mining and urged the mining sector to take care of the environment. He also announced that the state policy for mineral exploration should be ready by May.

Clearance hurdle

The state government's inter-departmental committee today found that none of the 11 non-captive iron ore mines, whose cases for extension of lease were placed for its consideration, had statutory clearances.

"None of these mines had statutory clearance to operate," said director of mines Deepak Mohanty, who was present at the committee meeting, chaired by development commissioner U.N. Behera.

No mining operations are taking place in these mines at the moment. "The state government will be apprised of the matter, and it will take the final call," he said.

The state government had, on April 18, extended the lease of 26 mines and issued orders to the companies to execute supplementary lease deeds within three months following approval of the recommendations by the inter-departmental panel.

The panel had, on April 4, recommended to the state government extension of the lease period of 26 closed mines, which had not violated lease terms and satisfied the provisions of the amended MMDR Act.

The committee had recommended the extension of lease till 2030 for captive mines and till 2020 for non-captive mines.

The 26 mines, the extension of whose lease period was recommended, include the 22 mines, whose second and subsequent renewals were pending. Four non-iron and manganese mines are also among these 26 mines.

The apex court had, on May 16 last year, ordered closing down of these 26 mines. There are another 108 mines in the state which have been closed in the wake of the multi-crore mining scam.

Now, with the enactment of the new MMDR Act, the state government is planning to review the cases of these mines in phases and allow them to reopen.