Patnaik seeks modifications in mining bill

Bhubaneswar, May 19 (IANS) Describing some of the provisions in the proposed new mining bill as an encroachment of the rights of the states, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Saturday asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for their omission or modification.

In a letter to the prime minister, Patnaik said the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Bill, 2011, if enacted in its present form, will amount to a departure from the federal structure of the Indian constitution.

Describing the regulation of mines and mineral development as basically a state subject, he said the union government is trying to infringe into the rights of the states by setting up a new body and empowering it with investigative and judicial functions.

"Creating a superior body with investigative and judicial functions to entertain complaints, give directions to the states, initiate investigations and lodge prosecutions encroaches upon the domain of the states," he said in the letter.