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A meeting was held with Mines Department officials at Vidhana Sabha in Bengaluru on Wednesday under the leadership of Speaker U T Khader and District In-charge Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao to allow red stone mining as per law in Dakshina Kannada district.
Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao discussed with Mines Department officials the possibility of amending the rules to remove obstacles to red stone mining in the district. A system for officially issuing permits for non-commercial red stone quarries should be implemented. Arrangements should be made through a single-window scheme to obtain permits. District-in-charge Minister Dinesh Gundurao instructed the Mines Department officials to implement the permit issuance process within the specified time limit. He instructed the officials in the meeting to hold discussions with the major red stone producers of Dakshina Kannada district and prepare an SOP to implement the new policy within a week. Legislative Assembly Speaker U T Khader, who presided over the meeting, instructed the officials to take steps to increase the drilling depth to 6 meters for building construction works, including soil levelling. There are already no restrictions on some activities. But there are some restrictions on red stone mining. Red stone should be easily available to consumers in Dakshina Kannada district. He instructed the officials to reduce the royalty and allow stone mining in accordance with the rules. (ANI)
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