Operations of 164 mines suspended in Orissa

In the aftermath of allegations of illegal mining activities in the state, the Orissa government has suspended the operations of 164 mines for violation of various statutory norms till the end of February 2010.

The errant mines included working mines, non-working mines and mines operating on temporary working permission.

The action has been taken against 48 subsisting mining leases (ML), 115 subsisting renewal mining leases (RML) and one mine with temporary working permission.

This was stated by the steel and mines minister Raghunath Mohanty in the state assembly today.

He said, among 48 subsisting mining leases against which action was taken, 45 were working and 3 were non-working. Similarly, out of the 115 suspended working RMLs, 100 were working and 15 were in the non-working category.

Among all the mines booked for violation of statutory norms, majority (88) belonged to iron and manganese ore category. These included iron ore (41), iron-manganese ore (25), manganese ore (20), iron-dolomite mine (1), and iron-manganese-limestone mine (1).

In this category (iron and manganese ore), 11 MLs, 76 RMLs and temporary working permission of another mine were suspended. They were penalized for want of forest clearance (21 mines), absence of environmental clearance (9 mines), want of statutory documents (46), absence of surface right grant order and map (4) and lack of mining plan (6 mines). Besides, Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) has also suspended the operation two mines.

The minister said, the government has so far executed 183 mining leases (ML) for iron ore, manganese and iron-manganese ore in the state. These included 79 iron ore leases, 43 manganese leases and 61 iron-manganese ore leases. While 52 were subsisting mining leases, 131 were renewal mining leases (RMLs).

Mohanty said, out of 52 subsisting MLs, 40 were working and 12 were non-working. Similarly, out of 131 RMLs, 106 were working RMLs and the rest 25 non-working. The highest number of 101 leases has been granted in Keonjhar district followed by 64 leases in Sundergarh district, 11 in Mayurbhanj and one each in Bolangir and Jajpur districts. The state has a total of 596 mining leases and renewal mining leases, out of which 245 are subsisting MLs and 351 are RMLs.