Centre to quicken pending statutory clearances for Odisha mines

Mines minister assures to consider demand for taxing super normal profits

The central mines ministry has assured to take steps for expediting forest and environment clearances for mines in Odisha.

“We raised the issue of pending forest and environment clearances for mines in Odisha. The Union minister has assured that steps will be taken to expedite the clearances,” said state steel & mines minister Prafulla Mallick.

Union minister for steel, mines and labour & employment Narendra Singh Tomar today called on chief minister Naveen Patnaik here.

Scores of mines in the state, mainly iron ore and manganese ore leases, are out of operations due to pending statutory clearances. Out of 600 leases, only 102 mines are currently operational. The state government has supsended 262 mines while operations of 142 mines have been temporarily discontinued. Recently, the Supreme Court (SC) in an interim order in May had called for suspending operations of 26 mines in Odisha that were awaiting second and subsequent renewal of leases. The top court held that operations of such mines were illegal unless the state government passed express orders.  

In compliance with the SC order, the state government passed orders for continuing operations of eight mines including four of Tata Steel, three held by Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) and one lease of state run Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC). But the balance 18 mines are still off operations.

During interaction with Tomar, the state government reiterated its demand for introduction of Mineral Resource Rent Tax (MRRT).

“The Union minister has assured to consider our demand for MRRT,” said Mallick.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has been persistently demanding introduction of MRRT on super normal profits earned by miners.

Justifying the need for introduction of MRRT, Patnaik had pointed out that during 2001-11, iron ore sales have jumped ten-fold from Rs 1,092.98 crore to Rs 11,285.33 crore while net profit has surged 27 times in the said period from Rs 343.94 crore to Rs 9,727.17 crore.

Odisha expected to mop up additional revenue of Rs 5,000 crore every year upon introduction of MRRT.