District Mineral Foundation

Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel will inaugurate three new districts on Friday and Saturday

District Mineral Foundation (DMF) is a non-profit statutory trust, which has been set up for the welfare of the districts affected by mining-related activities.

State has spent less than a quarter of Rs 7,909 crore it collected by June end; 3,617 of 12,605 projects under DMF yet to take off

State govt has made amendments to include 10 members from a Gram Sabha in a mining-affected area in the DMF Governing Council; 50% of Gram Sabha members will be from ST category

Most states are sluggish to spend DMF funds. Tamil Nadu, Karantaka and Telanagana have lacklustre spending rate of below 10 per cent

According to a report by an NGO, "The trends prove that DMF is deviating from its people-centric objective and is failing to serve the intended beneficiaries"

The Union mines secretary has proposed a study on effective utilisation of funds under PMKKKY guidelines by an independent agency to help improve the functioning of DMFs

It would explore minerals in 800,000 sq km areas with mining potential; to also ensure use of space tech to check illegal mining

Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat have constituted DMF in mining affected districts, but they have not started collecting funds for it as yet

The mine owners were asked to contribute an amount equal to 30% of their royalty payment obligation to District Mineral Foundation