Odisha: Iron ore miners counting on force majeure relief granted to coal blocks

The Government of India has agreed to grant coal mines three months relaxation under Force Majeure due to the second wave of the pandemic. The move offers some hope to iron ore miners in Odisha slapped with heavy fines for failing short of the Mine Development and Production Agreements.

The July 19 memo, signed by the competent authority, has agreed to grant a relaxation of three months in mining plans with the shortfall in production adjusted on a pro-rata basis for the Financial Year 2021-22. A similar three months will be granted to non-operational coal mines who have failed to meet their efficiency parameters set to 1 April, 2021 or later.

At least 40 requests had been made to the nominated authority asking force majeure to be invoked by companies such as Birla Corp. Ltd, Reliance Cement Company Private Limited, NTPC, Balco, Vedanta, Hindalco, Adani Enterprises and JSW Steel. All of them, as well as Yazdani International Private Limited, a sister concern of iron ore miner Serajuddin and co have got some reprieve from the government. Last Friday, Serajuddin was issued a staggering Rs 6028 crore demand notice for falling short of its MDPA agreement over the Balda iron ore block. This is one of the ten odd notices sent out over the weekend by the Odisha mining directorate to miners including AM/NS and JSW Steel at the end of their first year of production under auction rules. Serajuddin, like ex-lessee KJS Ahluwalia, had moved court for relief on grounds of the pandemic or force majeure.