Comments
The Orissa government has unearthed evidence that two state-run public sector companies are among 13 mine lessees indulging in illegal mining activities in the State, official sources said.
The state government is processing a showcause notice that is likely to be served against its own PSUs - Orissa Mining Corporation and IDCOL - over violation of mining rules, the sources said.
Orissa Steel and Mines Minister Raghunath Mohanty confirmed that a notice will be sent to OMC. “The state government has been processing a showcause notice against OMC on the charge of violation detected,” he said.
State-owned IDCOL was also found violating lease covenants, a senior official in the Mines Department said.
OMC, considered the highest revenue generating PSU for the state, was found indulging in illegal mining activities at twp chromite mines, while IDCOL was violating norms at a third.
Of the 13 mine lessees found indulging in illegal mining activity in 2009 and 2010, two were state PSUs operating three separate chromite mines, they said.
The others include Essel Mining & Industries Limited, S N Das Mohpatra, Indrani Patnaik, Arjun Lada, M S Deb and Ram Bahadur Thakur (RBT).
OMC, which was allotted 502.457 hectares of land at South Kaliapani in Jajpur district for mining chromite, was found to have encroached into another leasehold area.
Similarly, OMC was also found violating mining rules at its Kaliapani, Ostopal and Gurjang chromite mines in Jajpur district, they said.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.