On invitation from the Legislative Committee of the National Council of Bhutan to participate in a half-day consultative meeting to review and discuss on the Mines and Minerals Bill 2019 (MM Bill 2019), a team of five officials from the Department of Geology and Mines (DGM) led by the Officiating Secretary of MoEA attended the meeting on 13/07/2020. The consultation meeting was organized to prepare for the upcoming parliamentary session to deliberate on the MM Bill 2019.
The meeting was chaired by Hon’ble Choining Dorji, the Chairperson of Legislative Committee and Member of Parliament, Pemagatshel Dzongkhag. The meeting started with a presentation by the DGM giving a detailed account of the revision requirement and the revision processes along with the highlights on the contents of MM Bill 2019. Following the presentation, Hon’ble Members posed a series of questions on the provisions of MM Bill 2019 seeking clarifications from the DGM officials on the intent and objectives of the provisions.
In addition, DGM was requested to share documents and any other records on the past reviews conducted with numerous stakeholders including the exchange of letters. At the end of the meeting, the Chairperson of the Legislative Committee thanked DGM for the presentation and clarifications and stated that more meetings will be called if needed.
