Efforts made by the State Government in order to publish the 1982 land settlement survey have come as fresh air, at least for certain mining companies. The decision which has drawn some objections as well from different quarters is likely to settle land status issues which are said to be holding up mining operation in many cases in the State. It is learnt from highly placed sources that directions from top brass of the Government have come to speed up the process so that a new survey settlement can be in place. “The Government is working in that direction and they are willing to put things in perspective. The thing is that the State does not have new land records and the one available is as old as of 1932. Whereas status of land has changed since then and despite having been reflected into the newer survey settlement done in 1982, it has not been published yet,” said an official of the Land Revenue Department. There are six settlement offices in the State and land status of about 1/3 rd of total revenue villages have been published as per the last survey conducted. “The process to publish the rest is on and thereafter the Department would notify it finally,” said Rajiv Ranjan, Director with the Land Revenue Department affirming the development. The way has been found since host of companies being allotted land in the State for coal or iron ore mining are finding themselves in the jumble of forest land related preconditions. Their final approval for mining lease has been put on hold citing status of land as deemed forest based in the 1932 survey. In several cases even land records are said not to be available. “The issue came for discussion during a high-level meeting. The opinion was that a way should be found out considering previous land allocations made in the absence of land record to any particular company while the same mine came to standstill later as the missing land record surfaced. In this case, it has been agreed upon that the publication of the latest survey settlement done is the only way. There are several rounds of steps involved which is being initiated,” said an official. Case of Kathautia coal mine of Palamu is a glaring example where the operational reserve earlier with the Usha Martin reallocated to the aluminum major Hindalco due to the Supreme Court directed mass cancellation of coal blocks. But it came as a shocker for the new owner of the mine when the fact surfaced about the status of land under mining involved recognising it as deemed forest. The status warrants fresh forest clearance from the MoEF, fixation of net present value against the transferred land and submission of fallow land for compensatory afforestation under CAMPA. “It was also confusing for us considering the actual amount of deemed forest involved. Suppose we get forest clearance for any particular amount of land based on present facts and later some new facts come out. It was not possible to go ahead in that situation and a settled land status based on any recent survey is the only amicable solution,” said a senior official of a company. Admitting to the development, Land Revenue Minister Amar Kumar Bauri said that publication of the 1982 survey was being done.