By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR: Union Minister of Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs Shri Pralhad Joshi in a written reply in Lok Sabha on Wednesday said that Mineral Conservation and Development Rules (MCDR), 2017 provide rules regarding conservation of minerals, systematic and scientific mining, development of the mineral in the country and for the protection of environment. The Ministry of Mines has notified the Mineral Conservation and Development (Amendment) Rules, 2021 on 03.11.2021. The amended Rules prescribe that all plans and sections shall be prepared by combination of Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) or Total Station or by the use of drone survey or as may be specified in this regard by Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) in relation to certain or all category of leases.
Lessees having annual excavation plan of 1 million tonne or more in a particular year or leased area of 50 hectare or more shall carry out a drone survey of the leased area and up to 100 metres outside the lease boundary in the month of April or May every year and submit the processed output images obtained from such survey or any other format as may be specified by the IBM in this regard to the Controller General on or before 1st day of July every year.
Other lessees shall submit soft copy of high resolution Georeferenced Ortho-rectified Multispectral satellite images of the leased area and upto 100 metres outside the lease boundary taken in the month of April to June of every year, to the Controller General on or before 1st day of July of the that year in the standard format. These steps will not only improve mine planning practices, security and safety in the mines but also ensure better supervision of mining operations.
