Rs 154 crore spent on R

New Delhi, Aug 21 (UNI) Altogether Rs 154.78 crore has been spent by the Geological Survey of India (GSI), Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) and Mineral Exploration Corporation Ltd (MECL) on research and development schemes to explore mineral wealth during 2002-03 to 2005-06.

Giving this information, Minister for Mines Sis Ram Ola said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today, that of this, the GSI had spent Rs 46.25 crore, IBM Rs 51.06 crore and MECL Rs 57.47 crore on R&D schemes.

He told the members the Government was laying emphasis on R&D programmes for exploration and development of mineral wealth in India and a number of organisations in the public and private sector were engaged in this work.

During this period, other Government organisations incurred an expenditure of Rs 51.97 crore on general R&D including exploration of mineral wealth. The outlay for research and development activities during 2006-07 was Rs 66.30 crore.

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