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The report also outlined the administrative mechanism by which the task force is to be formed.

New Delhi , Dec. 27

THE Parliamentary Standing Committee on Industry has proposed the merger of the three Ministries of Steel, Coal & Mines and Petroleum in to a single Ministry as post-liberalisation, the scope and sphere of activities of these Ministries have come down drastically.

The committee, in its latest report tabled on the last day of the winter session of Parliament, recommended that the Government should immediately form a task force having representatives from these Ministries to examine several issues, including their merger, in line with the recommendations of the Expenditure Reforms Commission.

The report stated that after selling off most of the public sector undertakings (PSUs) engaged in mining, the role of the Department of Mines is currently restricted to only the technical and administrative works of the Geological Survey of India (GSI), the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) and other autonomous bodies and revision petitions. It may be mentioned that earlier, the Ministry of Mines had submitted a proposal to the Cabinet Secretariat for transferring the National Mineral Development Corporation (NDMC), the Manganese Ore India Ltd (MOIL) and the Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Ltd (KIOCL), which currently are under the administrative control of the Steel Ministry, to the Ministry of Mines. The proposal is still pending at the Secretariat. The report also outlined the administrative mechanism by which the task force is to be formed.

It has recommended that the Ministry of Mines should forward a proposal to either the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs or the Cabinet Secretariat regarding constitution of the task force with representatives from all the Ministries concerned.

The panel, in it concluding remark, noted that "The Ministry of Steel, Ministry of Coal and Mines, Ministry of Petroleum may be integrated and merged in the post-liberalisation phase or all these departments should come under the Ministry of Industry discharging the core responsibility just from a desk headed by an officer in the rank of a joint secretary."

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