Odisha to get tough with illegal miners who defaulted on penalty payments



Source: BUSINESS STANDARD

Miners who failed to pay the compensation for illegally mined iron ore and manganese as mandated by the Supreme Court are on the verge of facing stern action from the Odisha government.

The state government has decided to initiate coercive steps against defaulting leaseholders. The action could mean determining the leases of 56 lessees and going forward with seizure of assets. The authorities can even go for freezing bank accounts of the lessees to recover dues.

“The task force of the state government has decided to take stringent action against the erring miners. The grace period for the payment of compensation has lapsed. Under the Odisha Public Demands Recovery Act of 1962, we can initiate coercive action against the mine owners”, said an official source.

After the Supreme Court order in a case of rampant illegal mining in Odisha, the state government had slapped notices on 131 iron and manganese ore miners to recover Rs 175.76 billion. The penalty was to be forked out for violating environment clearance (EC) limits while extracting ore. The figure was calculated by a SC appointed panel, the central empowered committee (CEC). The court order on August 2, 2017 was in response to a petition filed by the NGO Common Cause. The court had stipulated December 31, 2017 as the deadline for payments.

Not all miners complied with this deadline. The non-payment of compensation led to the shutdown of seven working iron ore mines in Odisha with an annual capacity of 23 million tonnes.

Later, the top court condoned delay in payments by the miners who were directed to pay with 12 per cent interest. State run mining entity Industrial Development Corporation (Idcol), Serajuddin & Company and Aditya Birla owned Essel Mining & Industries were amongst the miners making payments beyond the deadline.

The state government has so far collected close to Rs 120 billion from the miners. Proceeds of the fund would go to the Odisha Mineral Bearing Area Development Corporation, the special purpose vehicle formed for periphery development of areas impacted by mining operations.

The scrapping of 56 mine leases would not hurt iron ore production in Odisha as most of the mines were non-working. Moreover, with Serajuddin and Essel Mining looking to restart their mines anytime, it has put to rest concerns on any deficit in production of iron ore. Last fiscal, Odisha was the country’s top producer with 102 million tonnes iron ore output, contributing more than a half to the countrywide production of 190 million tonnes.

Source: BUSINESS STANDARD