Shah panel to visit iron ore mines in Koira circle

The commission during its recent visit to the state from October 3-11 scrutinised records of 81 mines out of a total of 186 mining leases

The Justice M B Shah Commission of enquiry which is set to visit Odisha for the third time from October 31 will take up field verification of select mines in Koira sector in Sundergarh district.

“During its last visit, the Shah Commission had confined its probe to checking file records of all iron ore and manganese ore lessees. This time, they have communicated to us regarding their plan to visit a few mines in Koira circle. The probe panel will take up field verification during October 31-November 3,” said a senior steel & mines department official.

The team to be led by U V Singh, additional principal conservator of forests, Karnataka government will consist of other members like Bishwajeet Mishra, conservator of forests (Karanataka), Saroj Sadangi, deputy chief vigilance officer - South Eastern Railway (Kolkata), G T Pandya, deputy commissioner (industries & mines), Gujarat government, Janardan Prasad, senior geologist, Gujarat unit of Geological Survey of India and A V S Prasad, stenographer of the commission.

“I am directed to request you to direct the secretaries of all departments that they should keep available the concerned officers during the visit of the commission to assist in taking out information from the files and other records. The detailed programme regarding the places of visit will be informed by U V Singh after reaching Bhubaneswar,” Sudhir S Shah, registrar of the Shah Commission of enquiry wrote to Odisha chief secretary B K Patnaik.

The commission during its recent visit to the state from October 3-11 scrutinised records of 81 mines out of a total of 186 mining leases.

The panel among other things is specifically keen on checking records of mining leases of Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC), Odisha Minerals Development Company (OMDC) and Tata Steel.

In the case of OMC and OMDC, the panel will verify records of all mines, contract agreements, procedure followed for contracts of sale, execution of work purchases and others.

In case of Tata Steel, the panel will verify total production in all mines, taxes paid, balance sheet, records of mining leases in Odisha and Jharkhand and all details of steel plants, storage plants and others.

The commission has also sought specific details from all relevant departments. The mines department has been asked to make available all the files of the leases, first lease grant, notifications of subsequent renewals, transfer of lease (if any), copy of all registered lease deeds of all mines, details of company’s directors, details of status of lease land of all the leases and audit reports of the Accountant General.

The forest department has been asked to make available records of first notification of diversion of forest land by Government of India, details of compensatory afforestation, details of payment of net present value (NPV), copies of all proposals submitted to Government of India for diversion of forest land and lease wise details of compensatory afforestation completed.

Similarly, Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) has been asked to keep available details of all returns filed from 2000, mining plan approvals of all leases, all modifications issued for increased production of all leases and production details of mines since 1995.