Jaipur, January 29. Chief Minister Smt. Vasundhara Raje has said that the state government would shortly launch a mineral policy, which would accommodate the concerns of industry, support investment and at the same time promote green, clean and environmentally healthy practices to explore the mineral riches. She called upon the businesses to adopt modern environmentally acceptable technology for optimum utilization of mineral resources with less wastage and lesser health hazards.

Smt. Raje was addressing the inaugural function of the 8th India Stonemart-2015 at Jaipur Exhibition and Convention Centre in Sitapura Industrial Area on Thursday. As a part of the Jaipur Architectural Festival organized concurrently, she also honoured the winners of All India Stone Architectural Awards in four categories Exterior Facing, Interior Design, Green Architecture and Landscaping.

Arguing for green processes, the Chief Minister suggested the stone industry to recycle or reuse the waste materials produced so that the impact of environmental and health hazards could be minimized. To promote such initiatives, the government exempted making of powder by using marble slurry, she said. Also, now some entrepreneurs had shown interest in manufacturing gypsum from the marble slurry, she added.

Smt. Raje said that Rajasthan was a mineral rich state and it accounted for 90% of the total reserves of marble, sandstone, limestone etc. “For us, the mineral deposits are not just sources of wealth, but source of livelihoods. Especially, livelihoods of about one million people are dependent on minerals. Thus, sustained development of this sector is the government’s priority,” she stated.

The Chief Minister said that the country’s biggest and one of the world’s top events of stone industry Stonemart had grown considerably over the years. For her, it was a matter of pride that like other occasions such as jewelry show, literature festival, events at Jawahar Kala Kendra, devotional music festival this exhibition too had become a huge footprint to project Rajasthan on the international platform. Such programmes gave pleasure to the people of the state as well as promoted tourism, she said.

Smt. Raje called upon the expert architects participating in Jaipur Architectural Festival to be part of the government’s efforts for renewing urban spaces and developing new smart cities. “We believe our smart cities to be green cities, which are to be beautiful and go down in the history,” she said. Underlining the need of the skilled human resource for stone industry, the CM invited investors and industry majors to share their manpower requirements and come forward to partner with the state government to develop skillsets of the youth.

On this occasion, the CM also launched the International Stone Industry Exhibition and saw various stone products from Turkey, Italy, China, other countries as well as those from different Indian states including Gujarat and Karnataka. She further inaugurated the artisan pavilion Shilpgram-2015 installed by Rajasthan Non-Farm Development Agency (RUDA) and saw different handicraft and stone products showcased there.
State Industries Minister Shri Gajendra Singh Khinvawar, while addressing the inaugural function, said that economy of 20 districts of the state was dependent on stone industry. Marble, limestone, sandstone, granite and other minerals had contributed to construction of several historical monuments. Chief Secretary Shri CS Rajan expressed the need for a sustainable development of stone industry. He said that for this, mining and processing of stones was required to be modernized through environmental friendly means. Principal Secretary Industries Smt. Veenu Gupta said that the Stonemart was a big platform for dialogue and interaction between different stakeholders of stone industry.

Principal Secretary Mining Shri Ashok Singhvi, Vice Chairman of the Centre for Development of Stones (CDOS) Shri Ashok Kumar Dhoot, CEO of CDOS Shri RK Gupta, President of the Indian Institute of Architects Shri Prakash Deshmukh, Director General FICCI Shri Arbind Prasad, senior officers, delegates or representatives of stone industry from various parts of the world, businessmen related to stone and mining industries were also present on this occasion.

[slideshow]