JAIPUR: Chief minister Ashok Gehlot has written to the Centre to postpone the implementation of pre-embedded licence mechanism for mine blocks by two years. Under the pre-embedded licence system, the states are required to obtain all the clearances for mine blocks before auctioning them so that the successful bidders do not have to waste time in starting production.
Before the new guidelines were introduced in June 2020, successful bidders were required to obtain about 20 clearances to start mining, which resulted in inordinate delays in production.
But Gehlot said the state government also needed two years for obtaining the clearances for the blocks it intends to auction and implementing the guidelines would hamper the current auction programme.
“Obtaining clearances especially, environmental and land acquisition is a long-drawn process. Whereas, there is an urgency now to strengthen the financial situation of the state. If the licence mechanism is to be adopted, the state cannot auction mine blocks now. That’s why we want the Centre to allow us two years to follow the new norms,” said Subodh Agarwal, additional chief secretary, mines and petroleum.
