No need to reply to Centre's letter on PL to Posco: Mallick

Odisha steel and mines minister Prafulla Kumar Mallick today said there is no need to reply to the Centre's missive seeking clarification on granting Prospecting License in favour of Posco-India, which proposed to set up a 12 MPTA steel facility in the state.
"Union Mines Minister Narendra Singh Tomar in a letter to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in March had already clarified that Posco was not eligible for PL under the new MMDR Act. Therefore, we did not consider it appropriate to reply to the letter issued by the Ministry of Mines in April," Mallick told reporters while responding to a question on Union Minister of State for Steel and Mines Vishnu Deo Sai's statement to a query in Lok Sabha yesterday.

Sai in his reply had stated that the Government of India (Ministry of Mines) had received a proposal from the Odisha government for grant of PL to Posco for iron ore.
He said the Ministry in its letter mentioned that in case the Odisha government's application was eligible, the Centre would take further action based on the recommendation of the state government.
Mallick quoted Tomar's letter which said "Facilitation for setting up of proposed steel plant by Posco in Odisha may only be done in the present ambit of prevailing Act and Rules. The state government may prepare for initiating the auction process under the provisions of the MMDR Amendment Act, 2015 in which Posco may also participate".

The state government had recommended grant of PL to Posco-India over 2,082.50 hectares in Sundargarh district.
Besides, Mallick pointed out that a recent letter from the Union Mines Ministry said the proposal for grant of mineral concession for Posco-India was ineligible as per the provisions of Section 10 A (1) of the MMDR Act.
Meanwhile, on his return from New Delhi, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today said "We will seek Centre's help on the Posco issue.