Tardy progress on renewal of mining leases

Steel & Mines dept to review the status of mining leases soon

The process of renewal of mining leases in the state seems to be progressing at a sluggish pace. Though the state steel & mines department had targeted to renew 150 mining leases by the end of December this year, the progress on this front has been quite negligible.

"There is hardly any appreciable progress on renewal of mining leases in the state. However, we are keen on expediting the process and the steel & mines department will soon conduct a meeting to review the status of different mining leases", said a top official of the state steel & mines department.

Hardly 4-5 cases of renewal of mining leases have been disposed in the past six months, said a source familiar with the development.

It may be noted that the Supreme Court appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) has directed the state government to expedite cases of renewal of mining leases.

As many as 310 applicants had applied for renewal of mining leases (RML) out of which 53 were eligible and these are now operating under deemed extension. Twenty eight cases which do not have the requisite forest clearance have paid the Net Present Value (NPV) for diversion of forest land for mining activities. The NPV collection from mining activities has been Rs 2,400 crore in the previous fiscal out of which the state owned Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) has paid around Rs 800 crore.

Among 53 eligible cases, there are 10 cases which have Temporary Work Permit (TWP) and are awaiting the Stage-II forest clearance.

Also, 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.

RML cases in the state were temporarily put on hold as a six-member committee headed by Director (Mines) was constituted to look into the cases of miners raising ores beyond the IBM (Indian Bureau of Mines) approved Mining Plan.

According to the report submitted by the committee in September end, there were 87 mines lifting ores beyond the approved 'Mining Plan' of IBM. The state government had now asked IBM to take necessary action against these errant miners. The renewal of mining leases hinges on several factors like environmental clearance, forest clearance or payment of NPV, pending litigation and settlement of outstanding dues.