No.: 13(1)/2012-13/PAD-PR
December 12, 2012.
PRESS RELEASE NO.: 13/2012.
Dear Sir/Madam,
It has been alleged in the news item appearing in The Pioneer of 10th
December 2012
under the caption
“Parliament bypassed to steal rare atomic
minerals” that the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) has flouted rules governing
civil society by stealthily throwing open the country’s precious mineral resources to
corporates for exploitation, without the approval of the Parliament. It has been stated
that DAE’s Gazette Notification of January 20, 2006, revising the list of Prescribed
Substances, has been issued without having a proper mandate.
It is clarified that the DAE firmly respects the supremacy of the Parliament
and never can even imagine of bypassing it.
The Section 2(1)(g) of the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 mandates the DAE to
notify the list of Prescribed Substances through a Gazette Notification. Accordingly,
the Gazette Notification of 20th January 2006 excluding the Titanium bearing minerals
(Ilmenite, Rutile and Leucoxene) and Zircon from the list of Prescribed Substances
has been issued.
In fact, it is not for the first time that such Gazette Notification revising the list
of Prescribed Substances was issued in 2006; rather in the past too, a similar
notification was issued in the year 1995.
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-2-
The DAE Gazette Notification of January 20, 2006 which was given effect
from January 2007, has a footnote stating that, “These items shall remain prescribed
substances only till such time the Policy on Exploitation of BSMs notified vide
Resolution
number
8/1(1)/97-PSU/1422
dated
6th
October
1998
is
adopted/revised/modified by the Ministry of Mines or till the 1st January 2007,
whichever occurs earlier and shall cease to be so thereafter”. Accordingly the
notification came into effect from 1st January 2007, while the corresponding
regulatory mechanism prescribed in the MMRD Act and Mineral Concession Rules,
in respect of Atomic Minerals, remain in place and continue to be implemented.
The change to the list of the Prescribed Substances notified by DAE in
January 2006 has not removed these minerals out of the control of the Central
Government. The State Governments have to obtain prior approval of the Ministry of
Mines in all such cases of mining leases, since these items remain under the First
Schedule of the MMRD Act. The Ministry of Mines continues to refer to DAE, even
after January 2007, the applications received for mining lease for Beach Sand
Minerals that were delisted vide the January 2006 Gazette Notification. Such
applications received by DAE have been reviewed by the Atomic Minerals
Directorate for Exploration and Research (AMD) and then cleared by the DAE.
The requirement under the MMRD Act (1957) that the mining plan of all
Atomic Minerals listed in the First Schedule needs to be approved by AMD, too, is
being followed in true letter and spirit.
In addition, vide DAE Notification of 2009, issued by the Atomic Energy
Regulatory Board (AERB) under the Atomic Energy (Radiation Protection) Rules
2004, the Beach Sand Mineral (ilmenite, rutile, leucoxene, zircon, sillimanite, garnet
and monazite) processing facilities have to procure a licence from AERB for
radiological safety aspects.
However, in view of concerns raised in some sections of the media, DAE has
already taken suitable initiatives, by taking up with Director General Foreign Trade
and Customs Authorities, towards maintaining a strict vigil at exit points and
strengthening sampling mechanism for monitoring the Beach Sand Minerals in export
3/-
-3consignments. The design of Radiation Detection Equipment (RDE) being
manufactured by Electronics Corporation of India Ltd. (ECIL), a PSU under DAE, for
progressive deliveries to the Indian sea-ports in 2013, has been checked for its
effectiveness in monitoring radioactivity in the Beach Sand Mineral consignments, so
as to readily detect any unacceptable level of monazite contamination therein.
Indeed, one of the additional technical measures being considered includes the
automatic transmission of data from the RDE to a centralised facility.
The Department of Atomic Energy reiterates that it is fully aware of its
obligations and the rules governing its functions and continues to exercise utmost
care in all its dealings ensuring full compliance with legal requirements as mandated
by the Parliament.
You are requested to give it wide publicity in your esteemed Newspaper for
the benefit of your readers.
Thanking you and with warm regards,
Yours faithfully,
(S.K. Malhotra)