Mines NOC timelines tightened

Vijayawada: Principal secretary, mines and geology, Mukesh Kumar Meena directed officials of the mines and geology, revenue and forest departments to strictly adhere to prescribed timelines for processing land No Objection Certificates (NOCs) for mining applications and take steps to eliminate pendency.

Meena reviewed the implementation of the time-bound NOC mechanism under OMEPS 2.0 at a videoconference with officials of the mines directorate, joint collectors, district forest officers and district mines and geology officers. He directed officials to ensure that every application was processed within the stipulated timeframe and that delays at any stage were immediately escalated through the online system.

Under the revised procedure, the tahsildar has 14 days from the date of intimation to issue or reject an NOC on the portal. If no action is taken within the prescribed period, the application is automatically escalated to the joint collector, who has seven days to process it. In case of further delay, it moves to the district collector, who has another seven days. The portal also alerts the director of mines and geology at each stage.

Meena directed joint collectors and field-level revenue officials to closely monitor pending applications and ensure strict compliance with the timelines. District Collectors have been entrusted with ensuring compliance by Tahsildars, while wilful delay or negligence would invite responsibility on the concerned officer.

He also instructed mines and geology officials to properly scrutinise applications before forwarding NOC requests to revenue authorities. Area plans showing existing leases should be submitted through the portal. Where land is located within 500 metres of a reserved forest, the request should simultaneously be sent to the concerned district forest officer.

The principal secretary stressed close coordination among the mines, revenue and forest departments, particularly in cases involving assigned and patta lands and forest-adjoining areas.

He directed officials to make full use of OMEPS 2.0’s digital monitoring and escalation mechanism. The portal records every action, remark, document upload and forwarding of applications, while pending cases are automatically compiled for higher-level monitoring.

Director of mines and geology W B Chandrasekhar, additional director D Srinivasa Rao and joint director G Sreenivas Chowdary attended the meeting from the Secretariat. Joint collectors, district forest officers and district mines and geology officers from all 26 districts participated through video conference.

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The Hans India