Government renews effort to revive iron ore mining in Saranda

27th Aug 2018

With the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) in June this year putting a blanket ban on iron ore mining in any new area of the ecologically fragile Saranda region under its ‘sustainable iron ore mining’ initiative, the State Government has again pressed for reconsideration.

Highly placed sources said that the matter was raised in the meeting held in Delhi last week where Chief Minister Raghubar Das, Chief Secretary Sudhir Tripathi and the visiting team of officials from Forest and Environment Department advocated for relaxation before Union Ministers of MoEF Harshvardhan and Steel Chaudhary Birendra Singh.

“The State Government as well as the Steel Ministry jointly voiced for relaxation, keeping in mind the mammoth iron ore reserve lying in the Saranda region of Chaibasa district. They pressed to allow mining provided all required measures are in place for securing the biodiversity and minimising damage inflicted to it. Whereas the MoEF’s views were different which persisted with sustainable iron ore mining plan first,” said a senior official present in the meeting.

The Ministry in its order had defined ‘go’ and ‘no-go’ areas along with accepting an annual cap of 64 million tonnes of ore per annum as per the report of Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education. The Ministry also located fragile spots in terms of biodiversity to protect Saranda’s pristine Sal forest, considered the densest in entire Asia that is the adobe of wide range of species including elephant corridors.

Talking about ‘extra precaution’, which the MoEF would taken into consideration following the aforesaid meeting before allowing or declining the State Government’s and the Steel Ministry’s plea, the official quipped that it may be about deploying latest technology.

“There are set rules for diversion of forest land which are in place. The extra precaution has to be there considering the sensitivity of the biodiversity rich region like placing conveyer belts to transport the ore, deploying underground mining techniques and other modern mining plans.

But at the same time the arrangements have be economically viable and feasible as well. SAIL had to give a presentation about conveyer belt which has not been given so far.

The Ministry would look into it before making up its mind,” the official added.

Some SAIL mines at ‘Chiria’ and few others are in operation in Saranda which had already got permission in the past. The MoEF allowed only mining leases given in the eastern part of Saranda where two mining zones are located. The rest leases were closed for mining till the next call is made.

The call is to taken based on the status of the operational mines when their deposits are exhausted along with availability of appropriate technology for extraction ensuring least damage to flora and fauna over there.

Latest denial came in the case of Steel major ArcelorMittal whose project to mine iron and manganese over 202.35 hectares of Saranda was rejected by the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) of the Ministry. While rejecting the proposal, the FAC said, “It is not desirable for the State Government to assign forest land by way of lease in Saranda forest region till the plan for sustainable mining in Saranda is finalised based on the Carrying Capacity Study by Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education and on the Integrated Wildlife Management Plan.”

ICFRE, Dehradun study conducted to comply with the recommendations of Shah Commission of Enquiry had observed Indian Bureau of Mines’ approved mining plans for increased extraction of iron ore as ‘unscientific and illogical modifications’.

“No reasons are assigned for modification of the approved mining plans. Further it was observed that all the modifications were not on need basis but on greed basis,” says the study.

Source: THE PIONEER