Several factors contributed to the alleged illegal mining activities in the mineral belts of Orissa. One major factor was mining beyond the lease area by the Mining Lease (ML) holders.
Taking advantage of the remote locations mostly in the forest, they were resorting to mining beyond their lease areas. Since there was no effective system for demarcation of the lease boundaries, overlapping of the lease areas were there.
Since the mining areas were located mostly in forest land and the government didn’t have effective system for supervision, this was suiting the interest of some unscrupulous the miners who tried to exploit the situation to their advantage by mining beyond their lease area.
Statutory clearances are pre-requisites for staring mining activities by the lease holders. However, some of those mining companies were resorting to mining even without obtaining statutory clearances like forest and environmental clearances.
As per the MMDR Act, mining can’t take place without the approval of the mining plan by the statutory body like Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM).
Since the amount that a particular mining company can raise was fixed by the IBM authorities, mining without the approval of the mining plan was often resulting in excess mining beyond what could be reasonably allowed.
Delay in disposal of Renewal Mining Lease (RML) also contributed to the menace of illegal mining in the state. Pending the disposal of such applications, the lessee was allowed to continue mining under the Deemed Extension Provision.
Acute shortage of manpower at the field level both under the directorate of mines and other departments like forest and revenue made the supervision almost non-existent. In certain cases, there was official connivance with the dishonest miners. Lack of co-ordination between the directorate of mines, IBM, various departments of the state government like forest and revenue helped in continuation of illegal mining.
Further, the mining activity also exceeded the production level approved in the mining plan (MP). A large number of mines remained operational for long period of time, even after the expiry of the mining leases due to the delay in taking decisions on renewal applications filed by the mining lease holders.
Similarly, in large number of cases, the forest areas approved under the Forest Conservation Act (FCA) were lesser than the forest areas included in the approved mining plan. Lack of co-ordination between steel and mines department and forest department resulted in inadequate enforcement.
On close examination of the issues relating to the system weakness in the mineral administration, it was found that though the transportation of minerals are being done by the Railways, there is no proper verification of the sources of procurement of these raw- materials.
Persons intending to transport minerals through railways book space near the railway siding and arrange transportation through its network. Though the railway authorities have siding facilities at different railway stations for transportation of minerals, the minerals transported through this route were not verified for authencity and bonafideness.
In the absence of such verification of the source of procurement, it is not possible to establish whether the ores transported to various destinations outside the state were legally or illegally mined. It was in this backdrop that the guidelines on the transport of minerals were issued.
While there was connivance of officials posted at the field level particularly in the mineral rich districts like Keonjhar and Sundergarh, the transport of the illegally mined minerals were facilitated by the local people.
The people involved in illegal transport of minerals were avoiding the main road route and taking their minerals through the rural and forest areas. The locals were actively co-operating in these illegal activities for some money.
Besides, there were cases where the mining companies were lacking effective supervision over the minerals extracted. Media reports suggested that a part of the extracted minerals was finding its way to the black market through connivance of some security persons of the mining companies with mafias.
For more details, visit us at Scam in Odisha
Taking advantage of the remote locations mostly in the forest, they were resorting to mining beyond their lease areas. Since there was no effective system for demarcation of the lease boundaries, overlapping of the lease areas were there.
Since the mining areas were located mostly in forest land and the government didn’t have effective system for supervision, this was suiting the interest of some unscrupulous the miners who tried to exploit the situation to their advantage by mining beyond their lease area.
Statutory clearances are pre-requisites for staring mining activities by the lease holders. However, some of those mining companies were resorting to mining even without obtaining statutory clearances like forest and environmental clearances.
As per the MMDR Act, mining can’t take place without the approval of the mining plan by the statutory body like Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM).
Since the amount that a particular mining company can raise was fixed by the IBM authorities, mining without the approval of the mining plan was often resulting in excess mining beyond what could be reasonably allowed.
Delay in disposal of Renewal Mining Lease (RML) also contributed to the menace of illegal mining in the state. Pending the disposal of such applications, the lessee was allowed to continue mining under the Deemed Extension Provision.
Acute shortage of manpower at the field level both under the directorate of mines and other departments like forest and revenue made the supervision almost non-existent. In certain cases, there was official connivance with the dishonest miners. Lack of co-ordination between the directorate of mines, IBM, various departments of the state government like forest and revenue helped in continuation of illegal mining.
Further, the mining activity also exceeded the production level approved in the mining plan (MP). A large number of mines remained operational for long period of time, even after the expiry of the mining leases due to the delay in taking decisions on renewal applications filed by the mining lease holders.
Similarly, in large number of cases, the forest areas approved under the Forest Conservation Act (FCA) were lesser than the forest areas included in the approved mining plan. Lack of co-ordination between steel and mines department and forest department resulted in inadequate enforcement.
On close examination of the issues relating to the system weakness in the mineral administration, it was found that though the transportation of minerals are being done by the Railways, there is no proper verification of the sources of procurement of these raw- materials.
Persons intending to transport minerals through railways book space near the railway siding and arrange transportation through its network. Though the railway authorities have siding facilities at different railway stations for transportation of minerals, the minerals transported through this route were not verified for authencity and bonafideness.
In the absence of such verification of the source of procurement, it is not possible to establish whether the ores transported to various destinations outside the state were legally or illegally mined. It was in this backdrop that the guidelines on the transport of minerals were issued.
While there was connivance of officials posted at the field level particularly in the mineral rich districts like Keonjhar and Sundergarh, the transport of the illegally mined minerals were facilitated by the local people.
The people involved in illegal transport of minerals were avoiding the main road route and taking their minerals through the rural and forest areas. The locals were actively co-operating in these illegal activities for some money.
Besides, there were cases where the mining companies were lacking effective supervision over the minerals extracted. Media reports suggested that a part of the extracted minerals was finding its way to the black market through connivance of some security persons of the mining companies with mafias.
For more details, visit us at Scam in Odisha
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