Odisha govt shuts down two IMFA mines over flouting of pollution norms

State officials had inspected the chromite mines at Sukinda on March 23

The Odisha government has shut down two chromite mines of India Metals and Ferroalloys, a leading ferroalloys producer of the country, on the ground of non-compliance of pollution control norms.

While consent to operate (CTO) granted to the mines by the OSPCB was set to expire in March 2021, the sudden move to revoke it, based on an inspection of a pollution watchdog team, has obviously led to speculations of a political overtone to the action.

Incidentally, IMFA is promoted by the family of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP, Baijayant Panda, who has fallen out of favour with chief minister