Orissa cracks whip on three miners, issues showcause notices

Cracking the whip on errant miners for violation of Rule 37 of Mineral Concession Rules-1960, the state government has issued showcause notices on three miners- Indrani Patnaik, K J S Ahluwalia and T P Sao operating in Keonjhar district.

“Based on the findings of the six-member committee constituted to probe into alleged violation of Rule 37 of Mineral Concession Rules-1960, we have issued showcause notices to three lessees- Indrani Patnaik, K J S Ahluwalia and T P Sao. The enquiry for five other miners is under way and after receipt of report from the committee, we will initiate action against these miners in case of detection of violation of the rule”, Raghunath Mohanty, minister for industries and steel & mines told reporters after a high-level review meeting on the mining sector by the state Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

The alleged nexus between the mine lessees and raising contractor Triveni Earthmovers Ltd in the Joda mining circle in Koenjhar district had snowballed into a major issue with the MLAs of the Opposition Congress as well as the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) urging the Chief Minister to initiate stringent action against the miners as well as the contractor.

Two Congress legislators and six lawmakers of the ruling party had written to the Chief Minister in this connection.

These legislators had alleged that the mining mafia led by defeated MLA candidate Sanatana Mahakud in collusion with Triveni Earthmovers had forcibly taken control of ten mines in the Joda circle using their muscle power.Meanwhile, the state government had appointed 16 chartered accountants to detect cases of alleged violations of Rule 37 of Mineral Concession Rules- 1960. These chartered accountants were appointed to conduct preliminary verification of balance sheet, audited accounts, tax audit report, IT and VAT (Value Added Tax) returns) as well as related documents of the mines.

The chartered accountants were to carry out the work assigned to them in a team with an officer of the mining department. The mining officer would be from a mining circle other than in which the mine is located.

Earlier, the state government had constituted a six-member committee to carry out an investigative study of the financial transaction of the lesses and the raising contractors.

As a part of its crackdown on illegal mining activities in the state, the enforcement squad on mining had registered 2104 cases of which 1640 cases were at the district level and the remaining 464 being at the state level, the minister informed.

“As many as 659 people have been arrested in connection with illegal mining activities. The Chief Minister has given directions to strengthen the enforcement squad”, he stated.

“We have refused mining lease of Ram Bahadur Thakur Ltd and cancelled the mining leases of Arjun Ladha and B K Das for their involvement in illegal mining. Besides, enquiry is in progress for S N Das Mohapatra and B C Dev mines”, he added.

The minister said, the mining revenue collection in the state stood at Rs 1900 crore in the April-August period and the state government had targeted to garner Rs 4000 crore in this fiscal.