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| Renewal of mining leases deferred till September |
| Jayajit Dash / Kolkata/ Bhubaneswar Sep 01, 2010, 00:34 IST |
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Even as the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) of the Supreme Court of India has asked the Orissa government to expedite the process of renewal of mining leases, the state officials are in a fix as the renewal process has to be put on hold at least till the end of September.
Cases of renewal cannot be considered by the state steel and mines department till a six-member committee headed by Director (Mines) is set to submit its report on the miners raising ores beyond the IBM (Indian Bureau of Mines) approved Mining Plan.
As many as 310 applicants had applied for renewal of mining leases out of which 53 were eligible and they are now operating under deemed extension. The renewal of these 53 eligible applicants is also to be deferred till the recently constituted six-member committee submits its report as there is a possibility of even these eligible miners extracting ores beyond the IBM approved Mining Plan.
"We are in a fix right now as we cannot consider renewal of mining leases even though the CEC has asked us to expedite the process. There is a possibility that even amongst the 53 eligible cases for renewal, there may be some miners lifting ores beyond the IBM approved Mining Plan and we have to wait till the six-member committee submits its report”, a source in the state steel and mines department told Business Standard.
The Orissa government had already set in motion the process of renewal of mining leases of as many as 53 miners in the state. The renewal of mining leases of these firms, which will be dealt on a case to case basis, was expected to be completed by the end of the current financial year.
Out of these 53 firms, there are 28 cases which do not have the requisite forest clearance and these firms need to pay the Net Present Value (NPV) for diversion of forest land for mining activities. There are 10 other cases which have Temporary Work Permit (TWP) and are awaiting the Stage-II forest clearance and even these firms need to pay the NPV
Among the 53 cases of renewal of mining lease, there are two cases sub judice with the Supreme Court of India while other cases of renewal pertain to mining activities being carried out on non-forest land.
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