Eight mine owners of Odisha have joined hands to invest about Rs 100 crore for local area development of two mineral rich districts — Keonjhar and Sundergarh.
The mine owners made this commitment before the Justice M. B. Shah Commission, which is probing illegal mining issues in the State. They have formed a trust — Gramin Vikas Chaitnya Kendra (GVCK) — for investing the money, said Prashant Ahluwalia, Managing Director of the K.J.S. Ahluwalia group.
He added that the Rs 100-crore corpus is only for the first couple of years and after that all the participants have pledged to plough 4-5 per cent of their profit after tax (PAT) in the trust (the GVCK).
“The corpus of this fund is Rs 100 crore but that is to start the project. It will go up as and when required. After a couple of years, we intend to share 4 to 5 per cent of our PAT for local development through the trust,” he told PTI.
His group is among mine owners who have made a pledge to invest the money. Others include R. P. Sao, D. R. Patnaik, Indrani Patnaik, Kalinga Mining Corp, Sirajuddin & Co, and Thriveni Earthmovers.
All of them have mines in the mineral rich but backward districts of Keonjhar and Sundergarh.
Ahluwalia added that guided by former Solicitor-General Gopal Subramanium, who is representing his firm before the Commission, the detailed execution plan was presented to the Commission on April 21.
“He (Justice Shah) appreciated it. Now we have to implement it,” Ahluwalia said, adding that “the GVCK has already been registered. We are going one step ahead of CSR (corporate social responsibility), we are going for sustainable development.”
The GVCK will consist of social activists, experts, eminent persons of society and State Government representatives and they will be assigned to oversee the implementation.
However, Ahluwalia denied that creation of the trust is meant to douse the fire of illegal mining, being probed by the Shah Commission.
“What we have proposed to do is separate from the probe. What do you think that he (Justice Shah) will listen to anyone if there is any case of illegal mining. The legal aspect, whether it is illegal or excessive mining, are all separate. The GVCK is not an attempt to dilute the probe,” he said.
Through GVCK, the mine owners plan to build education centres, super-speciality hospitals and a sports academy. Roads and bridges construction, providing drinking water to villages, restoring original flora and fauna of the areas are also on the agenda.
The Shah Commission, which has so far submitted two reports — an interim report on overall illegal mining and a separate report on the same issue in Goa, has completed its hearing on Odisha. Its report on illegal mining issues in the State is expected within the next few months.