The Mines and Minerals Amendment Bill 2020 will look at shifting the authority to provide services related to surface collection from the Agriculture and Forests Ministry to the Department of Geology and Mines (DGM) of the Economic Affairs Ministry.
This was one of the highlights during the first public hearing conducted on the Bill on Friday.
During the hearing, Panbang’s Member of the Parliament Dorji Wangdi sought clarifications from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests (MoAF) regarding the shift of the authority on the surface collections.
“As per the Act, so far, the Department of Forest and Park Services has the authority to deal with surface collections and whereas the DGM has authority over mining and dredging. There has been much talk on this topic over the last many years. Now the Mines and Minerals Bill 2020 which will soon become an Act wants the DGM to take over the authority of surface collections. During our public consultations, some agencies and individual are a bit against the move. So we would be grateful if MoAF Secretary could tell us the reason why the authority should be kept with the ministry?” he asked.
The MoAF Secretary said both the Forest and Nature Conservation Act and the Mines and Minerals Management Act were passed in the year 1995. He added that the two acts created confusions during its implementation.
“In 2009 and 2010, the Cabinet passed an order stating that the authority should be given to the Economic Affairs Ministry but after one to two months the Ministry failed in its implementation and providing services to customers. The Ministry then handed it back to the MoAF. After that including timber extraction permission services have been provided by MoAF in all 205 gewogs. Now if found there are some problems in keeping with the MoAF, we are happy to handover the authority if the DGM is able to manage well as per the Act and if they have professionals in providing the services,” said Rinzin Dorji, the MoAF Secretary.
The Director-General of the DGM said the government’s motive behind must be the fact that the department has the required expertise. This move, he said, would ensure uniformity in providing services and taxations in the mining sector.
“At present, the mines and minerals related services are provided by two Ministries under one government. Be it mining or surface collections, it falls under one category. But until now, people have been visiting two Ministries for similar services. And this has become a problem for them. As shared by MoAF secretary, it will be better if both mining and surface collections are kept under one ministry,” said Choiten Wangchuk, the Director-General for DGM under the Economic Affairs Ministry.
The public hearing was conducted after the National Assembly’s Economic and Finance Committee’s several rounds of public consultations with various stakeholders on the Mines and Minerals Bill 2020. It is expected to help in forming a comprehensive bill, which will be tabled for deliberations in the upcoming session of the National Assembly.
Pema Tshewang/ Passang Dorji
