CEC team inspects mines in Keonjhar district

Four-member team led by P V Jayakrishna will inspect at least 11 iron ore and manganese mines

A day after reaching Barbil in Odisha's mineral rich Keonjhar district, a four- member team of Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) today inspected some iron ore mines to look into allegations of illegal operations.

The four-member team led by P V Jayakrishna would inspect at least 11 iron ore and manganese mines in Joda and Koira mining circles of Keonjhar and Sundergarh districts during its four-day visit to Odisha. Other members of the team are: M K Muthu, Mahindra Vyas and S K Patnaik.

The team conducted field verification at Kasia and RBT iron ore mines in Joda this morning. During their inspection, the team members scrutinised several documents before proceeding to some other mining areas for field verification, official sources said.

The team members also spoke to the lease holders regarding different aspects of mining operations during their field visit, they said.

The team, which is expected to submit its final report on illegal mining activities in the Supreme Court, had earlier visited the state and held several meetings with the state government officials and mines lessees.

"The team during its visit is verifying alleged Violation of Rule 37, an issue pointed out by the M B Shah Commission of Inquiry," a senior official said.

The team members will undertake field visit till tomorrow in the presence of state government officials and mining lease holders. The team is scheduled to hold discussion with the state government officials at Bhubaneswar before winding up its visit on July 15.