Raipur, Chhattisgarh: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai on Wednesday pledged that the process of giving other approvals related to coal transportation in Chhattisgarh will be made online again.

He said that these processes are being made online in view of transparency, to make it a corruption-free system and good governance in mineral administration. He was replying to the call attention motion in the budget session of state assembly.

He said in the previous government, the Director of Mineral Department had issued an order on July 15, 2020, providing that the e-permit would be issued only after the physical verification of the e-permit by the mineral staff of the district. Transit passes can be issued. It put a stop to the earlier online process. It led to direct human intervention leading to allegations of corruption and delay in transportation.

He underlined that under the online system implemented earlier, the lessee can automatically obtain e-permit and e-transit pass from his office for the transportation of coal through Mineral Online Portal without physically arriving at the Mineral Office.

The offline process once started to delay the implementation of E-TP and there was a loss of royalty revenue due to blockage of extraction in many coal mines. The Government of India had also taken objection by issuing letters to the state government twice. With illegal extortion and corruption due to interference had also tarnished the image of the state, Sai added.

Under its sequence, the Enforcement Directorate, after investigation, has submitted a complaint in the competent court, which is under consideration. Also, in the matter of corruption, the Directorate has registered a case with the Anti-Corruption Bureau, which is under investigation.

CM declared to cancel all the orders and subsequent orders of the offline process.