K’taka Mining Environment Restoration Corporation byelaws to be amended to speed up development plan of mining sector

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday instructed officials to prioritise the effective implementation of a comprehensive development plan for mining sectors and amendment to Karnataka Mining Environment Restoration Corporation (KMERC) byelaws.

Siddaramaiah said the amendment to KMERC should be made to make the Chief Minister as the chairman of the governing body to enable it to effectively implement the action plan of the Comprehensive Development Plan for Mining Impact Zones (CEPMIZ) in mine-affected districts as approved by the Supreme Court.

During the review of the functioning of KMERC, officials told Siddaramaiah that 466 villages across the four districts of Ballari, Vijayanagar, Chitradurga and Tumakuru have been declared mining affected in the state.

The Supreme Court has sanctioned and approved an action plan at an estimated cost of Rs 24,996.71 crore for the development of these villages.

As per the order of the apex court, Justice Sudarshan Reddy, retired judge of Supreme Court, has been appointed as the supervising authority to oversee the approval and implementation of the projects.

The authority has so far spent a total of Rs 7,634.96 crore in four districts and 317 proposals have been approved.

In order to quickly prepare the rest of the proposals and get approvals, the Chief Minister directed the officials to set up an engineering cell in these four districts and draw action plan swiftly under the guidance of the District In-Charge Minister and Deputy Commissioner.

The Chief Minister pointed out that there is ample opportunity to develop the mine-affected villages by utilising these projects and directed the officials to maintain the quality of the works.