Bhubaneswar: After transferring a minor mineral subject to its jurisdiction, Steel and Mines Department for the first time issued Notice Inviting Tenders for e-auction of 12 Granite Blocks in the district of Gajapati.
While Odisha Granite is now appreciated for its quality and sheen, southern Investors are increasingly showing their likeness for this decorative stones.
When the investors from Andhra Pradesh met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at Make In Odisha (MiO) 2022, they requested him to provide them quality granite, which is abundantly available in Odisha.
At that point of time Chief Minister promised them to go for Granite exploration sooner and expedite the auction process.
Thanks to efforts of the Directorate of Mines headed by G Rajesh, now the State Government is going for auction of 12 Granite Blocks.
The Director of Mines and Geology has issued the NIT as per Section 15 of Mines and Mineral (Development & regulation) Act, 1957 and in accordance with the Odisha Minor Mineral Concession Rule, 2016 and Odisha Specified Minor Mineral Auction Rule, 2019.
The 12 Granite Blocks put for electronic auction for the purpose of grant of mining lease are– Baharapada-Jamurhiha (East), Baharapada-Jamurhiha (West), Betarsing Block-A, Betarsing Block-B, Damba, Derab (East), Derab (West), Jhadapada, Lausahi, Nuagan (Nuagad), Nuagan (Tuburuba Mouza) and Tentulikhunti. Excluding Tentulikhunti, all other stone blocks have some forest land.
The Government has invited financial bids in digital format only while technical bids can be submitted both in digital and physical format from eligible bidders.
Eligibility condition, date and time for participating in the electronic auction are provided in the Tender Document. Detailed Tender Document along with the timeline, notifications, updates and other details for the e-auction process for the mineral blocks are available in electronic form only and can be downloaded from the website of MSTC Limited.
Interested and eligible bidders can register themselves on the website of MSTC Limited. On successful registration, eligible bidders will obtain login ID and password necessary for participation in the e-auction process. Model tender documents and mineral block summary are available free of cost on the website of MSTC Limited.
The interested bidders can purchase tender documents after payment of a tender fee on website of e-auction platform provider’s website by June 29, 2023, and the last date for submission of the bid is July 07, 2023.
The Directorate has set Rs 50,000 (excluding GST) price of tender document for each of the mineral blocks. The GST is payable under the reverse charge mechanism and the reserve price of all the 12 mineral blocks is 5 percent.
The State Government had transferred the administration of minor minerals from the Revenue and Disaster Management Department to Steel and Mines Department.
To accommodate this transfer process and implementation few measures like e-auction, prevention of illegal mining and theft of minor minerals through i4MS, automation of transit pass issuance for transportation of minor minerals etc., Odisha Minor Minerals Concession Rules, 2016 (OMMC Rules, 2016) have been amended after approval by the Cabinet last month.
After the first phase of e-auction pertaining to Specified Minor Minerals, the State Government has amended Odisha Specified Minor Minerals Auction Rules, 2019 (OSMMA Rules, 2019) taking various issues and dynamics into consideration to bring more transparency in the auction process.