Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, April 25, 2015 :

Odisha government on Saturday examined the status of 11 closed iron ore mines and found that none of these mines have statutory clearances.

Earlier the state government had given green signal to opening of 26 mines in accordance with the provisions of the amended Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) MMDR Amendment Act, 2015.

The inter-departmental committee headed by development commissioner U N Behera, on Saturday found that none of these mines had statutory clearances to operate and all of them were non-captive mines, according to director, mines Deepak Mohanty.

“The status of the 11 closed mines were placed before the inter-departmental committee headed by the development commissioner today. The committee deliberated on the validity of extending the lease of these mines under the new provisions of the MMDR Act 2015 that came into force on January 12 this year. The committee discussed threadbare the conditions under which renewals can be given to these mines. The government will decide on it. These mines are non-working and were closed for not having statutory clearances and other reasons. They are non-working and are yet to get statutory clearances. All of these are non-captive iron ore mines,” Mohanty told media persons.

The government will be apprised of the findings at the meeting and it will take a call on it, he added.

The mine owners lamented that if they are allowed to open after obtaining required statutory clearances will have to cough up a hefty sum as stamp duty.

East Zone Miners Association secretary Prabodh Mohanty said, “Mine leaseholders will have to pay around Rs 22-26 crore as stamp duty for per million ton of extraction and this will be heavy load for the industry. Paying upfront of such big amount will be economically suicidal for the leaseholders.”