Recover Rs 60k cr from Odisha miners: Shah Commission

In a damning report, the high powered Justice M B Shah Commission has flagged Rs 60,000 crore of illegal iron ore mining in Odisha and asked the state government to recover the money from miners "as early as possible".
The Commission's report, which runs into 5 voluminous parts, was today brought before the Union Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The Cabinet has asked a Committee of Secretaries to formulate an action taken report, which along with the Shah Commission report, will be tabled in Parliament, Finance Minister P Chidambaram told reporters here.
He refused to divulge the details of the report, saying, "We have got a report. It is a voluminous report. It is the first report, and I think it is in 4 or 5 volumes.

"We are asking a Committee of Secretaries (CoS) to sit together and draw up the action taken report (ATR). The report of the Shah Commission, appointed under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, must be placed before Parliament together with an action taken report. The ATR will be drafted by a CoS and then the Cabinet will take a final view on that."
The Commission has severely indicted both the Centre and the Odisha government on illegal mining of iron and manganese ores and has asked the state government to recover over Rs 59,203 crore from the miners.

It has also recommended granting all future mining leases via auction route only. This includes mines where leases are not renewed and are operating under deemed extension route or which are coming for first, second or third renewal, the Commission said.

"All modes of illegal mining" are being carried out in the state and "it appears that law has been made helpless because of its systematic non-implementation", it has said.
The Commission has also recommended using the recovered amount for the development of two districts, Keonjhar and Sundergarh, "which are badly affected by illegal excess mining".