VIJAYAWADA: Mines and Geology Principal Secretary Mukesh Kumar Meena directed the department officials to adhere strictly to prescribed timelines for processing land NOCs for mining applications and take effective steps to eliminate pendency.
Meena held a videoconference review meeting with officials of the Mines Directorate, Joint Collectors, District Forest Officers and District Mines and Geology Officers to review the time-bound NOC mechanism under OMEPS 2.0.
He directed officials to process every application within the given time and escalate delays at any stage through the online system.
Under the revised procedure, the Tahsildar has 14 days from date of intimation to issue or reject an NOC on the portal. If the Tahsildar fails to act within the prescribed period, the system escalates the application to Joint Collector, who has seven days to process it. If delay continues, the application moves to the District Collector, who gets another seven days. The portal alerts the Director of Mines and Geology at each stage.
Meena directed Joint Collectors and field-level Revenue officials to closely monitor pending applications and ensure compliance with the timelines without exception. District Collectors must ensure compliance by Tahsildars, while the department would fix responsibility on officers for wilful delays or negligence.
He also instructed Mines and Geology officials to properly scrutinise applications before forwarding NOC requisitions to Revenue authorities. Officials must submit the area plan through the portal with existing leases clearly demarcated. For land located within 500 metres of a Reserved Forest, officials must send request to concerned District Forest Officer.
He directed officials to follow the prescribed procedures and timelines in such cases to avoid unnecessary delays in disposing of applications.
Meena directed officials to make effective use of the digital monitoring and escalation mechanism available on OMEPS 2.0. The portal records every remark, document upload and forwarding of an application, while it automatically compiles pending cases.