Gandhinagar

Gujarat has become India’s first state to achieve e-auction of mining blocks by uploading tender documents inviting rates for approval of limestone mining lease online on November 10.

The government of India has made major changes to Mines and Minerals(Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 this year in the month of January, following which e-auction has made mandatory for most of the minerals. With digital uploading of tender documents for limestone mining, the state government has resumed the process of awarding mining lease which was on halt for last 10 months.

Gujarat government has identified five limestone blocks in 1056 hector(2640 acre) area in Goyla and Mudhvay areas of Kutch district for electronic auction under amended laws. Reserves in these five blocks are estimated at 1083 million metric tonne. Bid inviting tenders for award of mining lease was uploaded in the evening on 10th November. Five blocks are reserved for cement production.

Detailed tender documents for mining blocks e-auction process are available only in electronic format. They can be downloaded at http://mstcecommerce.com/auctionhome/mlcl/index.jsp before last date which is 11 January 2016.

Gujarat government had started e-auction of sand blocks before five years. Till now, 275 sand blocks worth Rs 314 crore are auctioned.

The government expects increased royalty income and transparency through e-auction, the process which will be a benchmark for other states.

– DeshGujarat