Union government asks State to fast track auctioning of 14 mines

The Union government has asked Karnataka to put the process of auctioning 14 iron ore mines on a fast track.

Union Minister of State for Mines Piyush Goyal, who reviewed the auctioning process with the State authorities here on Tuesday, told reporters that the State had fixed the last date for receiving the bids as July 28.

The State had assured the Centre of issuing the final letter of intent by September 22 for the auctioning process, he said.

Karnataka’s plans for auctioning the mines had got delayed because of problems related to stamp duty. However, the State Cabinet recently resolved the issue by clearing a proposal to amend the Stamp Duty Act.

In addition to this, the Centre had also requested the State to come up with a plan to increase the output of the existing mines to increase employment opportunities as well as revenue, Mr. Goyal noted.

The Minister said the State had assured the Centre that illegal mining had become an issue of the past as it had taken strict measures such as electronic surveillance infrastructure mechanism to check any violation of norms.