The new Mines Bill, which provides for sharing of profits and royalty with project-affected people, is likely to be introduced in the winter session of Parliament. The Bill was approved by a ministerial panel in July. Speaking to media, Mines Secretary S Vijay Kumar said the ministerial panel, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, had approved the draft bill. The bill which provides 26 per cent profit-sharing with displaced people by coal mining companies. Our correspondent reports, the draft Mines and Mineral Development and Regulation (MMDR) Bill, 2011, seeks to replace more than half-a-century old law under the same name.
The draft bill also proposes to set up a district development fund to be spent on local population and area development.
Apart from compensating the displaced people through profit-sharing and royalty, the draft bill also says that the mining firms will have to bear a combined cess up to 12.5 per cent on the royalty paid to states and the Centre.