The Union mines department today filed an affidavit in the Orissa High Court in connection with the large scale illegal mining in the state.
The affidavit was filed by TK Rath, Deputy Controller of Mines in the Bhubaneswar office of the Regional Controller of Mines of IBM (Indian Bureau of Mines) on behalf of the Union Mines secretary.
The affidavit stated that IBM had found considerable illegal mining of manganese ore and iron ore in Keonjhar district of Orissa. The IBM report was forwarded to the state government and the latter was advised to take immediate action to stop illegal mining and take necessary action against the guilty.
However,, considering the gravity of the matter and the loss sustained, if the High Court so desire, any agency of the government of India including the CBI can be called upon to investigate as per the due procedure laid down. It further assured that the Union government is willing to offer all necessary assistance to the state.
The public interest petition pertaining to the mining scam is scheduled for next hearing in the High Court on January 11.
It may be noted that the multi million crore illegal mining activities in the state had snowballed into a major controversy with the Opposition political parties mounting pressure on the state government to order a CBI probe into the matter.
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the mining scam, the state government has cancelled the mining lease of Ram Bahadur Thakur Limited while the administrative inquiry is underway for Arjun Ladha and B C Dev Mines.
These three mining firms were allegedly carrying out illegal mining operations on reserved forest land without the requisite clearance of the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF).
The department had also issued showcause notices to S N Das Mohapatra and Indrani Patnaik Mines for their involvement in illegal mining.
Besides, state steel and mines department has also filed its response to the interim report of the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) of the Supreme Court of India on the illegal mining scam in Orissa.
In its 85-page interim report, the CEC had pointed out that there was rampant illegal mining in Orissa. The CEC had inferred that illegal mining was going on for a long time in violation of the forest conservation act, air and water act and various norms of environmental clearance. The CEC had highlighted these issues in its interim report submitted to the Apex court.
The CEC report also mentioned that the production level in many mines was above the quantity approved in the mining plan.
Besides, a large number of mines remained operational for long period of time, even after the expiry of the mining leases due to the delay in taking decisions on renewal applications filed by the lease holders.The operations of 246 mines in the state have been suspended due to lack of statutory clearances.
The operations of these mines have been suspended due to various reasons including want of environmental clearance, pending forest clearance, non-approval of Mining Plan, non-payment of Net Present Value (NPV) for diversion of forest land for mining activities and want of no-objection certificate from the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB).
As many as 151 cases have been registered and 338 people have been arrested in connection with illegal mining.
