A joint front of more than five major trade unions will organise a Parliament march on August 2 against the proposed amendments to the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957.
Workers from the Kerala Minerals and Metals Ltd. (KMML), Indian Rare Earths Ltd. (IREL) and Travancore Titanium Products Ltd (TTPL) will participate in the march. An anti-privatisation forum, led by the joint front of trade unions that include the CITU, INTUC, UTUC, AITUC, STU, KOF and SPATO, is the organiser of the protest.
“As per the Act, the State government has the power to mine minerals from the Kerala coast and the right for mineral sand mining is vested in government-owned public sector companies. The amendment will change the policy of keeping mining within the public sector. Privatisation of mining will lead to overexploitation of coastal land and it will also affect the future of public sector workers,” said trade union leaders at a press meet here on Friday.
The amendment will allow the omission of eight out of 12 groups of minerals from Part B of the First Schedule of the MMDR Act. They include beryl and other beryllium-bearing minerals, lithium-bearing minerals, minerals of the ‘rare earths’ group containing uranium and thorium, niobium-bearing minerals, titanium bearing minerals and ores (ilmenite, rutile and leucoxene), tantallium-bearing minerals, zirconium-bearing minerals and ores including zircon and beach sand minerals.
As per the proposal, a new Part D in the First Schedule (Critical & Strategic Minerals) will be created and the eight minerals will be placed along with others such as indium, gallium, graphite, nickel, cobalt and tin.
“As per the proposal, the Centre will have the authority to auction mining areas of minerals falling under the newly constituted Part D. This will help private parties to enter the mining sector, and the power of the State governments will be snatched. It is also an encroachment on the authority of the federal system,” the trade union leaders said.
