Shah panel asks Odisha to map adjacent areas of leased mines

The Shah Commission today asked the Odisha government to cover adjacent areas of leased mines while undertaking physical verification of actual mining areas.
"We saw that the state government's verification teams are not capturing the adjacent areas of mines while undertaking the physical verification of actual lease hold areas. That mineral bearing portion should also be captured as per the Commission's guidelines," Biswajit Mishra, a team member of the M B Shah Commission, told reporters after visiting the mine areas in Keonjhar and Sundergarh districts.
He said encroachment in the mining plan can be accessed only after completion of all the process.

Mishra during his visit held a meeting with senior state government officials, including the steel and mines secretary Rajesh Verma and director of mines Deepak Mohanty.
The two team members also examined the preparation of the map by the state government at Odisha Remote Sensing application Centre here, officials said.
Mohanty said the Commission had told the state government that they found over burden dumping activities in the bordering areas of the two mines, which were not covered during physical verification.

The state government, he said, would educate the teams involved in the physical verification work about capturing the adjacent areas.

Earlier, the Shah Panel had allowed fresh physical verification of 42 mines as their respective owners raised objection to the state government's manner of mapping mines area by using Google map.
Meanwhile, the state government has completed fresh physical verification of 29 mines, they said.
The Odisha government had set up five committees on the commission's direction for physical verification of boundaries of the mines.