BD mines now in vigilance scanner

The state vigilance has taken up the enquiry of the alleged illegal mining in B D Patnaik Mines, a part of Thakurani mines in Keonjhar district.

It will probe whether the company was engaged in illegal mining activity in Kalaparbat area, 10 kms away from Joda. Four vigilance teams have been deputed to the site as part of the investigation, sources said.

The vigilance will enquire whether the leaseholder had applied for the renewal of the ML one year before the lapse of the deemed extension. Besides, it will also enquire whether the lease holder was carrying on mining in the forest land during the deemed extension.

It may be noted, Bansidhar Patnaik was the lease holder for that particular mines and he was granted a 30 years mining lease (ML) in 1959. He filed for renewal of mining lease on 30 July 1988, one year before the expiry of the ML.

The ML was granted over an area of 33.56 hectares and the deemed extension allowed for 20 years which ended on 29 July 2009. BD Patnaik Mines is the third property which has been put under the vigilance scanner after allegation of large scale illegal mining in the state. The informal estimates put the worth of the minerals siphoned off by the perpetrators of these activities at about Rs 4,000 crore.

The vigilance department is already investigating into the illegal mining of manganese and iron ore by Ram Bahadur Thaku Ltd and BC Dev mines in the Joda area of the Keonjhar district after the issue rocked the assembly during its last session. It had arrested eight persons, including seven officials of the state mining department in this connection, before the accused were let off on bail by the court.