Committee to probe lessee-contractor nexus in five mines at Joda

A six-member committee formed by the state government to carry out a probe into the financial transaction of the lesses and the raising contractors will visit five more mines in the Joda mining belt to check if there is any violation of Rule 37 of Mineral Concession Rules-1960.

This committee will submit a detailed report to the state government by August 10.

“The six-member committee has brought to the fore cases of violation of Rule 37 of Mineral Concession Rules-1960 in case of three operating mines of the Joda circle. The state government is contemplating action against these mine owners and the respective contractors”, said a senior official of state steel & mines department.

The committee headed by P C Patra, deputy director of mines-Bhubaneswar is studying audited balance sheets as well as profit & loss accounts along with all the schedules of the lessee, mining contractor, power of attorney holder or any other person or agency involved in formal or informal arrangements with the lessee regrading mining or sharing of profits.

Other documents being scrutinized by the committee include relevant lease deeds and agreements, tax audit reports of the lessee and the contractor, ledger account of the contractor in the books of the lessees along with supporting documents and bank accounts as well as books of accounts of the relevant parties.

According to Section 37 (1) of MC Rules-1960, no lessee can assign, sub-let, mortgage or in any other manner transfer the mining lease without the prior written consent of the state government.

It may be noted that in May, former BJD MLA Debasis Nayak had brought to fore allegations pertaining to the unholy alliance between mining contractors and political personalities in Keonjhar and Sundergarh districts. Allegations of a similar nature were also raised by Anandpur MLA Bhagirathi Sethy.

In a letter to the state Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Nayak had alleged that Triveni Earth Movers Ltd, in collusion with Sanatana Mahakuda, a defeated candidate from the Champua constituency in Keonjhar district, is leading the mining mafia in Keonjhar and Sundergarh districts.

Both Triveni Earth Movers and Mahakuda have forcibly taken over the mining operations of several mines in these two districts illegally and local mine owners have been forced to give their consent under gun point, Nayak had said in the letter.

Nayak pointed out that majority of illegal movement of minerals is being done with the active facilitation of this mining mafia.

According to Nayak's letter, all the 12 mines of five lesses- Kalinga Mining Corporation (Jalhari-Joda), Serajuddin & Co (Belda), D R Patnak (Murga), TV P Roy (Guali), Indrani Patnaik (Unchabali) and K J S Ahluwalia (Guali) in Keonjhar and Sundergarh districts are being mined by Triveni Earth Movers Ltd.

Nayak had alleged that Triveni Earth Movers, flouting all rules, is engaged in extraction of ores beyond the approved quantity which may lead to exhaustion of ore from the said mines in the next 8-10 years.

Earlier, the state steel & mines department had asked the Directorate of Mines to expedite enquiry into all cases relating to violation of Mineral Concession (MC) Rules-1960.

Directions were issued to the mines directorate to instruct all the deputy director of mines and mining officers to issue notices to lessees under Section 27(1) (i) of MC Rules-1960 to furnish all relevant documents.