In a bid to provide information to stakeholders, increase efficiency, bring transparency and reduce red tape, the project of computerised online mining tenements system (COMTS) has finally taken off after three years of being conceptualised, with the pilot project being launched in Rajasthan by the mines ministry.
The Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) had planned to take up the project at an estimated cost of Rs 22 crore. The COMTS was to be set up on information on mineral resources of the country, excluding atomic minerals, oil and natural gas. The project was to be implemented in identified eleven mineral rich states namely, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu.
A LAN connecting servers and clients will be established at all these centres. The data from each State Department of Mines and Geology (DMG) will then be transferred to the IBM headquarters through the WAN links. The IBM will act as expert and system integrator for the project and will also work as interface between all stakeholders.
Sources said a presentation was made by the Rajasthan government for the tenement system to be put online in the state. It was noted that in so far as mining registry was concerned, they had done good job. The GIS part, however, was not up to the mark.
“On the other hand, the presentation made by the Karnataka State Remote Sensing Applications Centre, an autonomous body of government of Karnataka, revealed that they had necessary expertise in GIS applications. They had done a project for Karnataka Government for checking illegal mining,” sources said.
It was felt that the Karnataka agency could be considered for preparation of spatial data for one district in Rajasthan and the GIS data generated by the KSRSA can be integrated with the registry part prepared by government of Rajasthan.
A working group was constituted to undertake the project at an estimated cost of Rs 4.5 crores which was later revised to Rs 3 crores, which included the cost of software development and web-hosting for the district of Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan.
Sources added that the ministry has advised KRSC to hold a meeting with ISRO and NRSS to determine if the cost of the pilot project can be reduced further. The ministry also desired that the pilot project be taken up in two districts including Bellary, where large number of mines is located.
The project had been stuck since after a series of meeting by the Mines Ministry with departments like Science and Technology, it was found the project involves much higher expenditure that the anticipated expenditure of Rs 22 crore, indicated in the project proposal while seeking in-principle approval of the Planning Commission. The cost of the project was estimated at about Rs 100 crore.
The project was referred back to the Planning Commission for approval, after which the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) nod was needed since the project cost exceeds Rs 50 crore.