Bhubaneswar: A total of Rs 2918.09 crore fine imposed as per the orders of the Supreme Court is pending against several mine lease holders in the State for illegal mining.
This was informed by Steel and Mines Minister Bibhuti Bhusan Jena while replying to a query by BJD Lawmaker Ranendra Pratap Swain.
The Minister informed that the Government of India had constituted a Commission of inquiry led by Justice M B Shah in 2010 to inquire into the alleged illegal mining in the State in respect of the iron and manganese mining leases.
Later, a Writ Petition was filed by the NGO, Common Cause in 2014 with a prayer for an investigation on the issue by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), he said.
The facts placed in the report of the Shah Commission were challenged by the concerned mining lease holders on the grounds of production figures, price of the minerals, approval of Mining Plan vis-a-vis Environment Clearance (EC).
The Supreme Court, having considered the petitions of the mining lease holders, directed the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) to enquire into the issues without reference to the Shah Commission’s Report.
CEC reconciled the figures of production from 2000-01 to 2010-11 in respect of all the mining leases in Odisha along with the validity of the EC and came up with the assessment of compensation to the tune of Rs 17,091.24 cores and Rs 484.92 crore in the iron ore and manganese mining leases respectively towards extraction of minerals in violation of EC/FC (Environmental Clearance/Forest Clearance), and MP/CTO (Mining Permit/Consent to Operate), he said.
“Therefore, the action on unlawfuI mining in Odisha was taken up based on the report of the CEC under orders of the Supreme Court but not on the report of the Shah Commission,” the Minister said.
In compliance of the orders of the SC on 02.08 .2017, the State Government had raised demand on unlawful mining; for violation of EC/FC an amount of Rs 18,169.14 crore was made and an amount of Rs 16,103.96 crore was realized Rs 2,065.17 crore.
For violation of MP/CTO, as against the penalty amounting to Rs 1890.83 crore, Rs 1101.69 crore was realized Rs 789.13 crore, Jena informed.
He further said that demand was made for undisposed stock for Rs 362.06 crore and the balance for recovery is Rs 63.79 crore. So, in total, an amount of Rs 2918.09 crore is pending against the mining leasees.
In 2018, he mentioned, certificate cases under the provision of the Orissa Public Demands Recovery Act, 1962 have been initiated against 23 defaulters for unrecovered Rs 2719.87 crore.
For strict enforcement against unlawful mining / illegal transportation, State Level Enforcement Squad (SLES) and District Level Task Force (DLTF) have been formed and pressed into action.
For appropriate grade determination, automation of grade analysis of minerals is being taken up. Besides, laboratories are being set up to avoid manual intervention in chemical analysis, the Minister stated.