Union Mines & Steel Minister Narendra Singh Tomar held several rounds of discussion on proposed MMDR Amendment Bill, 2014 with representatives of miners, end-user industries and other associated organizations. The discussions spread over two days i.e. 4-5 December,2014, were attended by Secretary, Mines, GOI Dr. Anup K.Pujari, Additional Secretary, Mines R.Sridharan and other senior officials of the Ministry.

Tomar emphasized that the objective of Amendment Bill is to kick-start the mining sector, by removing the bottlenecks that are preventing mining industry from becoming a growth-multiplier in the country. Government is working towards bringing in transparency in the systems, ensuring fair share of value for the government and creating an investor-friendly environment in the mining industry, he added. Tomar stated that the auction route suggested in the proposed Bill has been included after active discussions and inputs from the state governments. The objective of these deliberations was to seek inputs, feedback and suggestions on omission and commission in the proposed amendment bill.

The organizations which took part in the multi-round discussions included FICCI, CII, ASSOCHAM, FIMI, Indian Steel Association(ISA), Odisha Steel Manufacturers Association, Chhattisgarh Sponge Iron Association, Goa Foundation, Ultratech Cement, Environics Trust among others. Their representatives which came for discussions were inter-alia C.S.Verma, T.V.Narendran, Sajjan Jindal, Naveen Jindal, Ravi Uppal from ISA, R.K.Sharma from FIMI, Ajit Oswal from Ultratech Cement, Claude Alvars from Goa Foundation and Rahul Sarawagi from Chhatisgarh Sponge Iron Association. Representatives from different organizations commended the government for its intent and the sense of urgency and gave their views and suggestions on the proposed Bill. Government’s intention is to bring the Bill in the ongoing session of parliament.