Indian Bureau of Mines suspends operations of eight mines

There seems to be no end to the flouting of norms by the miners in the state. After the suspension of the mining operations of as many as 220 mines in the state in the wake of the multi-million crore mining scam, the Indian Bureau of Mines has suspended the operations of eight more mines.

IBM on Thursday served notices to five mines in the Joda-Barbil belt and three mines in the Koira region to suspend operations.

The mining operations of these mines have been suspended for the failure of the miners to comply with the provisions of the 'Mining Plan' of IBM.

"A joint team of the state mining department and the IBM had visited 87 mines of the state last month. Based on the inspection, the operations of eight mines have been suspended as they have not complied with the provisions of IBM's Mining Plan”, a top official of the state steel and mines department told Business Standard.

It may be noted that the Orissa government has seized around four lakh tonnes of illegally mined minerals including iron ore, manganese and bauxite from the Joda-Barbil and Koira regions of Keonjhar district from April 2009 to May 2010.

In the aftermath of the multi million crore minng scam which had caught the state government in a tight spot, 384 illegal activities have been detected in the said period which includes 292 activities in the Joda-barbil belt and 92 activities in the Koira region.

“The value of these seized minerals has been estimated at Rs 17.65 crore. As many as 222 vehicles involved in illegal mining activities have been seized”, said Raghunath Mohanty, the state minister for steel and mines had earlier informed the state legislative assembly during the monsoon session.

The state government has realized Rs 6.91 crore from the seizure operations which includes the penalty imposed on illegally mined ores and the cost realized from the disposal of confiscated ores and minerals.

Of the total value of the seized minerals of Rs 17.65 crore, minerals worth Rs 16.68 crore have been seized from the Joda-Barbil belt while the balance Rs 96.43 lakh from the Koira region.

The seizure operations include 3.63 lakh tonnes of iron ore, 6879 tonnes of manganese and 270 tonnes of bauxite. More than 75 per cent of the minerals have been seized from the Joda-Barbil belt.

Faced with a barrage of criticism over the mining scam, the state government has cancelled the mining license of Ram Bahadur Thakur Limited while the administrative enquiry is underway for Arjun Ladha and B C Dev Mines.