The tussle between state mining department and mine lessees deviating from mineral and environment laws seems to be continuing unabated. The department which has stepped up the ante against errant miners has sought a detailed report from the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) on all lessees that have violated ‘consent to operate’ guidelines of the board.
The SPCB has so far intimated the department on action against 50 such miners and is gearing up to submit data on the remaining lessees soon. Among the 50 miners who were levied pollution charges for flouting ‘consent to operate’ guidelines are Tata Steel (Joda west iron ore mines and Malda manganese mines), Rungta Sons (Jajanga iron and manganese mines), Indrani Patnaik (Unchabali iron and manganese ore mines), Odisha Mining Corporation (Banspani iron ore mines, Khandabandh iron ore mines and Dubuna manganese ore mines) and Essel Mines (Jilling-Langalota iron and manganese mines and Kasia iron ore mines) to name a few.
Siddhanth Das, member secretary, SPCB said, “As many as 198 lessees have violated ‘consent to operate’ guidelines of the board from 1995 to the present time. The combined penalty against such lessees, which is twice the consent fees, has been worked out at Rs 2 crore and we are in the process of recovering it.”
Besides violation of consent to operate guidelines, 104 lessees were found guilty of raising ore beyond the mining plan approved by Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) in the past 10 years. In 71 cases, excess ore produced is beyond reasonable variation limits (20 per cent deviation from mining plan).
It may be noted the state government had constituted a six-member committee headed by Director (mines) to investigate into cases of miners who had extracted ore in excess of the IBM endorsed mining plan for at least a year in the past 10 years.