Govt to review excess ore lifting cases

Miners who have extracted ore in Odisha beyond the approved mining plan prescribed by Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) in the past 10 years will go under the scanner soon as the state government plans to review such cases.

“The Chief Secretary will take a review meeting of cases of excess production of mineral ore on April 23. The government will seek a detailed response from IBM which has been silent on excess production by the lessees,” said a senior official of steel & mines department. In December last year, the Odisha government had hit back at the IBM over the issue of excess production of ore after the Union mines ministry blamed the state for its failure to curb movement of such illegally mined ore.

 

Accusing IBM of lapses in its duties, the state government argued that under Mineral Concession and Development (MCDR) Rules-1988, it is the IBM's responsibility to prepare Mining Plan and ensure that is followed by the lessees.

The Opposition, however, had criticized the state for its failure to prevent transportation of such excess ore raised illegally beyond the IBM ratified mining plan.

“The state government cannot take the escape route on the matter. Issue of transport permit is the hands of the state government. The question arises as to why the state government did not take steps to curb movement of such illegally mined ore,” senior BJP leader K V Singhdeo had said previously. On its part, the Union mines ministry pointed out, the situation had emanated from the failure of state machinery to curb movement of such illegally mined ore.

“An analysis of production and violations in 104 mining leases for bulk minerals in Odisha in the last 10 years as reported by the Odisha government was undertaken by the IBM . In 71 cases, it has found excess ore produced beyond reasonable variation limits (20 per cent deviation from mining plan). Instances of excess production are attributed critically to failure by the state machinery to restrict movement of minerals from the mining leases due to inadequate co-relation with the production figures in the approved mining plan. The powers of restriction on mineral movement lie exclusively with the state governments as the sole statutory authority to collect royalty and authorize movements,” Vishwapati Trivedi, Union secretary (mines) said in a letter to the state Chief Secretary B K Patnaik in December last year.

It may be noted the state government had constituted a six-member committee headed by Director (mines) to investigate into cases of miners who had extracted ore in excess of the IBM endorsed mining plan for a least a year in the past 10 years. The committee found 104 lessees who had produced ore beyond the approved mining plan and had requested IBM to take action against these lessees.