Odisha gets Tough on Errant Miners, Asks Officials to Submit Action Reports

The Odisha government has tightened the noose on miners who had defaulted on payment of compensation for excess production of iron ore and manganese as mandated by the Supreme Court.

In a letter to the collectors of Keonjhar and Sundargarh, the two most prolific districts for iron ore mining, Odisha's steel & mines secretary R K Sharma, has asked for submission of reports on action taken against such defaulting miners. As per statutes, the district authorities were supposed to initiate coercive action like identification of their properties for confiscation and filing of certificate cases. The cases were to be filed and action taken as per the provisions of the Odisha Public Debt Recovery Act of 1961. Since mining penalties were categorised under land arrears, the action was to be taken by invoking the provisions of this Act.

Sharma has also instructed the two collectors to furnish details of meetings of the District Level Task Force.

The state government has decided to initiate coercive against the defaulting leaseholders. The action could mean determining the leases of 56 lessees and going for the seizure of assets. The authorities can even go for freezing bank accounts of the lessees to recover dues.

After the Supreme Court order in a case of rampant illegal mining in Odisha, the state government had slapped notices on 131 iron and manganese ore miners to recover Rs 17576 crore. The penalty was to be forked out for violating environment clearance (EC) limits while extracting ore. The figure was calculated by the apex court appointed panel, the central empowered committee (CEC). The court order of August 2, 2017, was in response to a petition filed by the NGO Common Cause. The court had stipulated December 31, 2017, as the deadline for payments.

Not all miners complied with this deadline. The non-payment of compensation led to the shutdown of seven working iron ore mines in Odisha with an annual capacity to mine 23 million tonnes.

Later, the top court condoned the delay in payments by the miners who were directed to pay with 12% interest. State-run mining entity Industrial Development Corporation (Idcol), Serajuddin & Company and Aditya Birla owned Essel Mining & Industries were amongst the miners making payments beyond the deadline.

The state government has so far collected close to Rs 12000 crore from the miners. Proceeds of the fund would go to the Odisha Mineral Bearing Area Development Corporation, the special purpose vehicle formed for periphery development of areas impacted by mining operations.

The scrapping of 56 mine leases would not hurt iron ore production in Odisha as most of the mines were non-working. Moreover, with Serajuddin and Essel Mining looking to restart their mines anytime, it has put to rest concerns on any deficit in production of iron ore.