#mining mess

The mining Mafia in Orissa has been looting precious iron ore worth thousands of crores for well over a decade even as the Naveen Patnaik government turns a blind eye. From mega corporations to fly-by-night operators, everyone has made windfall gains while giving the Orissa government measly royalties of just Rs 25-Rs 27 a tonne. International prices of iron ore have shot up to Rs 4,000-Rs 5,000 a tonne from Rs 500-700 a tonne during 2000-02. It's only earlier this year that the state government sent notices to over 104 mining companies for indulging in excessive and "illegal mining". It has demanded Rs 68,000 cr from the companies as fine. If the amount is recovered, Orissa will be in a position to write off its Rs 37,174.89 cr debt and have a surplus.

"The renewal of lease is the duty of the government, but in Orissa, the state government did not perform this important duty," says Jayant Das, a senior advocate fighting cases against the state government. This resulted in several companies getting "deemed extensions", he adds.

By Orissa government's own submission to the Centrally empowered committee constituted by the Supreme Court, the number of companies that enjoyed deemed extension for a period of 5 to 20 years is 215.

A panel appointed by the Supreme Court has recommended scrapping 42 iron ore mining leases in Goa, a lawyer who attended the hearings said on Friday.

“The Supreme Court committee has directed scrapping 42 mining leases in the region of Goa and said that all things should be in accordance to law,” said lawyer Sandeep Singh.

Before a mining ban in September, Goa was India’s second-biggest iron ore producer and top exporter. It produced more than 50 million tonnes annually and exported almost all of it.

Stepping up action against erring PSUs which failed to develop coal mines, the Inter-Ministerial panel on coal blocks has recommended de-allocation of eight such blocks after scrutiny of 19 cases.

The panel, whose earlier recommendation for de-allocation of 13 mines to private firms has already been accepted by the government, has also asked for imposition of bank guarantee in six cases and deduction in two cases.

“The Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) reviewed 19 coal blocks allotted to public sector firms in the last two days. It has recommended for de-allocation of eight mines and deduction of bank guarantee in two cases,” a government official told PTI.

Deallocated blocks are: 

Utkal-D coal block in Odisha: Allotted to Orissa Mininig Corporation (OMC) in December 2003.

Mandakini block: Allotted to Assam Mineral Development Corporation.

Shankarpur/Bhatgaon II & Extension block in Chhattisgarh: Allotted to Chhattisgarh Mineral Development Corporation in 2007.

The Odisha government has asked leading steel and iron ore companies to pay over Rs 50,000 crore for alleged illegal and excess mining in a move that could lead to a lengthy standoff between the private sector, the Centre and the resource-rich state that produces a third of the country's iron ore.

ET has confirmed independently that 40 notices from the mining department of the state's Joda district have been issued seeking recovery of as much as 48,450 crore from both captive and non-captive mining leases in the district. The companies include Tata Steel, Mining, Sarada Mines (which has a long-term arrangement with Jindal Steel & Power), Mideast (Mesco Steel) as well as firms belonging to KJS Ahluwalia, MC Rungta and the state's own Orissa Mining Corporation.

The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered two fresh cases against two companies for alleged forgery and cheating in connection with its probe in the coal block allocation scam and carried out searches in 16 locations, including Delhi and Hyderabad.

The malevolent nexus between the Chhattisgarh government and leading media houses is just one aspect of this story. The evidence that is going to follow would show that the BJP and Raman Singh are presiding over a deeply corrupt and unconstitutional regime in Chhattisgarh. At least three companies that are directly promoted by BJP leaders have been allocated iron ore or coal blocks in a blatant violation of constitutional provisions and established rules and procedures.

More than 70,000 acres rich in mineral resources, most of which is covered with dense forests, has been given to private companies for the purpose of prospecting minerals. Most of these companies don’t have any proven track record, financial capability or technical expertise in the mining industry.

The Justice MB Shah report on 'Illegal Mining' in Goa which was tabled in the Parliament recently along with an action taken report. The Mining Scam brings you the details of the entire report in a series of posts.

The Union Environment and Forest Ministry on September 12 suspended the environmental clearances (ECs) of all the 93 mining leases in Goa. The action comes after the Shah commission stated in its report that:

The spirit of Environmental Clearance system has been substantially wounded, resulted into amass of wealth by certain individuals/companies at the cost of environmental sustainability and ecosystem. The impact is so high that the environment and ecosystem in the buffer zone have been made vulnerable to withstand.

The report pointed out that mine owners had acquired the ECs by furnishing wrong details.

Below is an excerpt from Chapter 1 of the report.

Instead of nourishing 'Democracy', are we marching towards anarchy?

Before dealing with the facts, it would be worthwhile to state the experience of personal visits to mines, which is as under :– In the Secretariat a public meeting for making representations regarding illegal mining was organized by the Department of Mines and Geology, State of Goa on 17.9.2011. In the said public meeting, it was thought that those who were knowing something about illegal mining, would make representations. The experience was contrary. After one person made representation about illegal mining, hue and cry was raised by other persons stating that :– a) Illegal mining should be permitted to be continued; and b) In any case illegal mining should be regularized. Because :–

(i) Number of families depend upon illegal mining; (ii) Number of truck-owners are doing business in transporting minerals and their livelihood would be adversely affected, if illegal mining is stopped or banned. (iii) Mining is the main industry which generates employment for the labourers. Result is :–