The Naikkarpatti tungsten block in Madurai has six villages including Arittapatti, a biodiversity heritage site famous for its archaeological monuments. File | Photo Credit: The Hindu
The Union Ministry of Mines on Tuesday requested the Geological Survey of India (GSI) to re-examine the Nayakarapatti tungsten block in Madurai, which includes six villages including Arittapatti, a biodiversity heritage site famous for its archaeological monuments.
It also suggested that the GSI explore possibilities of redefining the boundaries by excluding biodiversity heritage sites from the block and requested the Tamil Nadu government to put on hold the process of issuing a letter of intent to the preferred bidder – Hindustan Zinc Limited. For now.
This decision has been taken in view of the number of representations against the block auction which includes Arittapatti. Further, the Union Ministry alleged that even though the Tamil Nadu government informed about the existence of a biodiversity site covering an area of 193.215 hectares – about 10% of the total area of the block – it did not recommend against auctioning the block.
“When the block was initially put up for auction in February 2024, there was no communication from the state government about any opposition or concern regarding the auction, even though Tamil Nadu attended many of the auction-related meetings of the Ministry of Mines, until the auction results were announced on November 7, 2024,” an official said. The press release said.
The GSI handed over the geological memorandum for tungsten in Madurai district to the Tamil Nadu government in September 2021, as the state government was then empowered to auction all major minerals, including important minerals like tungsten. The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, was amended in 2023, empowering the Center to auction mining leases and composite licenses exclusively in respect of ‘important and strategic minerals’, including tungsten, the statement said.
Based on the amendment, the Ministry of Mines wrote to the Tamil Nadu government in September 2023 regarding the auction of important mineral blocks in the state, including the Naikkarpatti tungsten block. However, in response, Tamil Nadu’s water resources minister questioned the amendment act passed by Parliament and demanded that the right to auction critical minerals should also be vested in state governments.
“It is pertinent to note here that in 2021-2023, when the state had the right to auction critical minerals, Tamil Nadu did nothing. In fact, after the advent of the auction regime, Tamil Nadu has not auctioned a single major mineral block in the last nine years,” the statement added.
published – Dec 24, 2024 09:34 pm IST