Mining lease order cancelled, Director suspended

Srinagar, June 25: The state government has cancelled its order of granting mining lease to a non-state subject after directions from the Assembly Speaker following an uproar in the House on Friday, seeking its revocation and punishment to officers concerned. This information was given by Minister for Industries and Commerce Chander Parkash in the Assembly today. The issue concerning SRO-105 was raised National Conference members and others, including CPM member MY Tarigami. The minister said the order of mining lease issued on May 12 had been cancelled “with immediate effect”. “This has been done only for the purpose of satisfaction of the House and keeping the motto of honesty, integrity, public probity and transparency,” the minister said. Chander Parkash said the Director of the Geology and Mining Department had been suspended and the order cancelled. He added that consent by the Pollution Control Board was not under SRO-105. Chander Parkash said SRO-105 was discussed in the Assembly on June 3 while the mining lease order was issued on May 12. He said the order was issued on an application to the Director on May 21, 2012, followed by verification by the Kathua Deputy Commissioner on April 22, 2014, and mining plan sent to the Director on July 17, 2014. Speaker Kavinder Gupta, intervening in questions raised by Opposition MLAs, said the House committee led by Mohammad Akbar Lone, constituted on June 3, would submit its report by July 15. One of the members, Sukhnandan Kumar of the BJP, decided to withdraw from the committee and informed the Speaker. Lone and Tarigami expressed their dissatisfaction over the government's statement, saying it was “factually incorrect”.