Govt examines 11 mines, plans to reopen more

BHUBANESWAR: To reopen more mines, a state government panel on Saturday examined cases of 11 iron ore and manganese mines, closed for past several years due to lack of statutory clearances and other reasons.
The inter-departmental committee, headed by development commissioner U N Behera, found that none of the mines had statutory clearances to operate.All of them are non-captive mines.
"The panel discussed threadbare the conditions under which nod can be given to the mines under the provisions of the MMDR Act 2015. The government will decide on it," said director of mines Deepak Mohanty shortly after the meeting.
"On the basis of merit, the committee would recommend the government to extend the lease period of certain mines by April 28," he added.
Mines of Avin Jain, Odisha Manganese and Mineral Private Limited, Narayani Sons Private Limited, R P Sao, H G Pandya and others, Kalinga Mining Corporation, Tarini Minerals, Om and M Limited were examined.
On April 18, the state government had extended lease period of 26 mines on the basis of the recommendations of the committee. The government asked the companies to execute supplementary lease deeds within three months.
According to official sources, the steel and mines department has prepared a format to execute the supplementary lease deeds of the 26 mines. "The government approved the format. We would circulate it among the lessees and ask them to execute the deed by paying required registration fees and stamp duty," he said.
The government also eyes huge revenue from mining sector during 2015-16 fiscal due to reopening of mines. "According to preliminary assessment, the government aims to generate Rs 6,500-crore revenue," Mohanty said.
In 2014-15, state's mining revenue was Rs 5,186 crore against the target of Rs 6,346 crore, the sources said.