Export of natural resources a crime: Raman Singh

RAIPUR - Export of natural resources is a crime and should be banned as early as possible, Raman Singh, chief minister of Chhattisgarh - one of India’s most mineral-rich states - said Thursday.

“Exporting natural resources outside the country comes under category of a national crime and it should be banned,” an official press statement quoted Singh as saying.

The chief minister had also slammed the proposed new mining policy of the central government and stated “licence allocation on a first-come-first-served basis as per the provisions included in the proposed new mining policy is impractical and against the interests of the mineral rich states as well as people of the mineral-rich areas”.

Chhattisgarh has an estimated 20 percent reserves of country’s total iron ore and coal deposits.