Its irregular, not illegal mining in Odisha, says IBM

Points fingers at state machinery for irregularities

The regional wing of Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) on Wednesday said that there was no case of illegal mining in Odisha as per newly amended laws and pointed fingers at state enforcement machinery for their failure to check only irregularities relating to excess raising of minerals.

“Whatever minerals were raised from a particular mine, the permission for transport was given by the DDM (Deputy Director of Mines) of the concerned area after collecting royalty. Once the royalty is paid on the minerals, how come it became illegal?” asked M Biswas, regional controller of mines, Bhubaneswar, of IBM.

According to a recent amendment made in Mineral Concession Rule (MCR), 1960, any rule violation made within the leasehold area of a mine cannot be termed as illegal mining. And therefore, excess raising of minerals beyond prescribed limit is irregular and not illegal, explained Biswas.

The state government has meanwhile sent show cause notices to over 60 iron ore and manganese ore miners in Joda and Koira mining circle asking them why the prices of the minerals raised beyond mining plans should not be recovered, which amounts to Rs 70,000 crore. The government has invoked section 21 (5) of Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation (MMDR) Act, 1957 and cited an audit report for its action.

Meanwhile, Mining experts, quoting MMDR Act, questioned the legal validity of the state government’s notice since the Act is applicable only on mineral activity taking place without the lawful authority.

“Section 21 (5) can be invoked when a person without having any clearance operates mines. But in case of lessees, who are legal owners of mines, it cannot be applied,” said B K Mohanty, former director of mines with Odisha government. However, the miners can be penalized by appropriate authority for not giving satisfactory reply over excess raising of mineral, he added.

Illegal mining enquiry agency Justice M B Shah Commission Wednesday said they have found enough evidence against mining activity taking place in unleased areas in the state.

“There are many information we have on mining activity that took place in unleased areas. First we should get to know what were the violations that happened inside lease areas and then we can conclude about illegal mining,” said U V Singh, head of the visiting probe panel. To find out charges of illegal mining, the commission is focusing on boundary maps of the mines with the help of Google Earth images, he added.