Shah Commission to hold talks with top state officials on Monday

The M B Shah Commission of enquiry which reached yesterday in Orissa on a six-day visit to inspect alleged illegal mining activities in the state will visit mine leases in Joda and Koira mining circles on December 9-10.

The specifics of the mines visit are yet to be worked out and will be decided after due consultations of the commission with top level district officials of Keonjhar and Sundergarh districts.

On December 11, the commission will interact with non-governmental organizations (NGOs), locals and all other stakeholders of the mining sector in Keonjhar.

The commission's probe will culminate with the meeting with the state Chief Secretary scheduled for December 12 at 10 am at the state secretariat. The secretaries of departments of steel & mines, commerce & transport and revenue and disaster management will also participate in the meeting.

The independent commission, headed by a retired judge of Supreme Court is believed to be training its guns on Joda and Koira, the two most prolific mining circles of the state and wary of this, the steel & mines department has lately suspended operations of eight mines in the Koira circle.

The commission held discussions at the district rural development agency (DRDA) at Keonjhar with a wide array of officials including district collectors and superintendents of police of Keonjhar and Sundergarh, deputy director of mines (Joda and Koira), respective mining officers of the two circles, regional officer of State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) and divisional railway manager of East Coast Railway (ECoR).

Meanwhile, the steel & mines department has issued directions to the collectors of Keonjhar and Sundergarh and also to deputy director of mines of Joda and Koira circles to make available all necessary information to the commission members.

The commission will, among other things, scrutinise the status of all 188 working and suspended iron ore and manganese ore mines in the state, check whether lessees have valid mining plans and also examine violations of mining and forest laws by the miners. The state government had submitted its first report to the commission on May 13 and filed its next reply on June 1 this year. Later on August 10, the commission had sought some additional information on areas like lease wise production, exports, violations detected under Orissa Minerals (Prevention of Theft & Smuggling Rules)- OMPTS-2007 and action taken thereof and the steel & mines department had complied with the same by September-end.

More recently, the commission had sought information from the steel & mines department on alleged violation of Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation (MMDR) Act, 1957 and Mineral Concession Rules (MCR)-1960 by Patnaik Minerals Private Ltd in the Joda circle.