Consult states on national mineral policy, says Raman

Raipur, July 16 (UNI) The Chhattisgarh government has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to convene a meeting of the chief ministers of mineral producing states before finalising the new 'National Mineral Policy'.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh pointed out that mineral producing states of Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Karnataka had already submitted a joint memorandum expressing their concerns on the proposed national mineral policy.

Dr Raman Singh said Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Jharkhand continued to be the poorest states of the country and were worst affected by naxalism. Majority of inhabitants of these states, particularly in the mineral bearing areas, are scheduled tribes.

Pointing out that the mineral based processing industry was the main economic activity that could help improve the living standards of the people by the generation of gainful employment opportunities, he said removal of regional imbalance and containment of spread of naxalism in these areas are among the priority tasks before the nation.

''It is, therefore, extremely necessary that mineral owning states should in no way be denied their rights to utilize their resources for the economic uplift of the people suffering poverty in the mineral bearing areas'', Dr Raman added.

Chhattisgarh is the richest state in terms of mineral wealth, with 28 varieties of major minerals, including diamonds.

Chhattisgarh, along with two other Indian states has almost all the coal deposits in India while tin ore is available only in this state. The state produces a fifth of iron ore, including the best quality iron ore produced from the Bailadila mines in Chhattisgarh.

Iron ore from Bailadila is in great demand in many countires, including in Japan.

Besides, rich deposits of bauxite, limestone, dolomite and corrundum are found in the state. Apart from diamond, four blocks of gold exploration and five blocks for base metal investigation have already been demarcated in the state.

Deposits of Alexandrite, one of the rarest gemstones, are found in Deobhog area of Raipur while mineable deposits of corrundum are widespread in southern part of the state. Semi-precious varieties of Ruby and Blue sapphire and possibilities of finding precious varieties also existed while other semi-precious minerals like Beryl, Garnet, Amethyst and Rock Crystal are also found in other parts of the state.

UNI