Mines Ministry raps Odisha for failure to check illegal mining

NEW DELHI: The mines ministry has ticked off Odisha for its failure to check mining irregularities, saying it should share the blame for illegal mining. The ministry's surprise missive, which comes a day after an central probe panel wrapped up its tour of the state as part a countrywide exercise to investigate illegal iron ore mining, was in response to Odisha's complaint about a ministry agency, the Indian Bureau of Mines, two months ago.

In a letter to the state chief secretary on Tuesday, mines secretary Vishwapati Trivedi reminded the state government that “the powers to (monitor and) restrict mineral movement lie exclusively with the state governments as they are the sole statutory authority to collect royalty and authorise movements”.

During its four-day visit, the commission, headed by former Justice M B Shah, had raised concerns on the Indian Bureau of Mines' failure to check lessees that mined more than their approved level of output.

Odisha, which contributes nearly a third of India's iron ore output, is home to mines of Tata Steel, Birla's Essel mining, Rungta, KJS Ahluwalia, Sarda Mines and Orissa Mining Corporation.

In October, state mines secretary Manoj Ahuja had written to the then Union secretary of mines, Vijay Kumar, asking him to look into the responsibility of the Indian Bureau of Mines for ensuring that lessees work within their mining plans.

In his reply, the incumbent secretary pointed that while the bureau of mines supervised plans under the Mineral Conservation and Development Rules 1938, the state directorate of mining and geology was responsible for inspection of transit permits and volume and quality of mined ore that it collects royalty on.

“In principle, the objective of endorsing this information is not merely to enable state governments to be informed but also facilitate the state governments as the owners of the minerals to exercise an efficient control in minerals despatch through correlating mining plan or violation details with proper accounting of minerals produced and dispatched on transit permit after collecting royalty dues,” Trivedi said.