All About 3,00,000 Crores Odisha Mining Scam

Synopsis of illegal mining in Odisha

The illegal mining in the rich mineral bearing states like Orissa, Karnataka, Goa, Chhatishgarh and Andhra Pradesh turned out to be a major issue during last year with various political parties demanding an enquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) into the matter.The issue rocked Orissa with a Bench headed by Chief Justice of Supreme Court Justice K G Balakrishnan directing the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) to submit a report on the alleged mining scam in the state.

Issues in illegal mining

• Mining beyond the lease area by the Mining Lease (ML) holders.
• Mining without the statutory clearances like forest and environmental clearances.
• Mining without the approval of the mining plan by the statutory body like Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) in clear violation of the MMDR Act.
• Mining beyond the quantity approved by IBM.
• Delay in disposal of Renewal Mining Lease (RML) and mining under the Deemed Extension Provision contributing to the menace of illegal mining
• Acute shortage of manpower at the field level both under the directorate of mines and other departments like forest and revenue making supervision almost non-existent.
• Official connivance with the dishonest miners and mafias.
• Forest areas approved under the Forest Conservation Act (FCA) being lesser than the forest areas included in the approved mining plan.
• Though the transportation of minerals was being done by the Railways, there was no proper verification of the sources of procurement of minerals.

Steps taken to check illegal mining

• Formation of State Level Task Force (SLTF) headed by Chief Secretary and District Level Task Force (DLTF) headed by the District Collector.
• The digital mapping of the lease areas are being prepared using the latest technology used by the revenue and disaster management department through the National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) and ORSAC.
• Verification of the transit pass issued for the consignment by the Railway authorities before allowing its stocking at the rail siding and subsequent loading on to the rakes, to check illegal transportation of minerals in Orissa. The entry and exit restrictions have been put in place which is applicable to the private railways siding of Tata and SAIL.
• To get rid of the fake TPs which were detected on certain occasions, the government has introduced new Transit Pass (TP) for the transport of minerals with watermark and new hologram from April, 2010.
• The Police in Sundergarh, Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar districts have been given special powers to search and seize the minerals transported illegally, the vehicles and the persons engaged in such illegal activities.
• To check illegal trade of minerals in the border areas, the Orissa government has sent a proposal to the Jharkhand government for constitution of a joint committee consisting of the officials of both the state.
• An inter-departmental committee headed by the Commissioner, Commercial Taxes, Government of Orissa has been constituted for automation and modernization of check gates in the state. Simultaneously, the weigh bridges in locations like Keonjhar and Joda are being rationalized.
• With a view to bring in administrative reforms using the Information Technology, an Inter-Organizational Group (IOG) has been formed. A Revenue Intelligence Group (RIG) has been formed under the Chairmanship of Transport Commissioner which is sitting regularly.
• The Centre has also agreed to strengthen the regional office of the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) located in the state.
• A committee headed by the director of mines (group leader) to monitor the verification of records of all the mining leases (ML) or renewal mining leases (RML) has already submitted its report to the government. Eighty seven mines have been found to have resorted to excess raising of minerals beyond the IBM approved quantity.
• Revamping the mineral administration in the state.

Observations of CEC
The green bench of the Supreme Court has directed the Orissa government to implement the recommendations of the Central Empowered Committee (CEC). Recommendations included:

• Deemed extension clauses should only be used in contingency situation and shouldn’t be availed indefinitely.
• The mining in non-forest areas can be allowed only after obtaining all the environmental and other statutory clearances by the lease holder.
• The lessees would have to pay the Net Present Value (NPV) of the forests for the entire lease area as per the Supreme Court direction of 2002, both in Renewal Mining Lease (RML) and Mining Lease (ML) cases.
• Since continuing mining over a long period without renewal of mining lease becomes a potential source of irregularity, CEC suggested it to be decided in a time bound manner.

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