Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has decided to oppose ordinances of the Central government relating to auction of major minerals and coal blocks and land acquisition in the budget session of parliament that starts tomorrow. The party made its stand clear after an all-party meeting called by the Union parliamentary affairs minister and the Lok Sabha speaker today.
“We have taken a position that there was no need to bring those six ordinances and will oppose the move of the Central government. We have raised objections to certain provision of the MMDR Act (Amendment) ordinance and will send a revision notice as well as try to build up opinion of other parties in our favour,” said Bhartuhari Mehtab, BJD leader in the Lok Sabha.
The party has objected to certain provisions of Mines and Minerals Development & Regulation (Amendment) Ordinance, 2015, citing that the Centre has unilaterally decided on these issues without consulting the state government.
In the mining ordinance that came into effect on 12 January, the provision of renewal of mining leases was done away with and instead, automatic renewal was granted to all merchant mining leases till 2020 and for captive mines upto 2030 under Section 8 (A) 5 and 8 (A) 6 of the ordinance.
The state government's contention is what should it do with pending renewal applications because as per a Supreme Court order in May last year, it has to take a decision whether to accept or reject the renewal applications. Besides, just ahead of the Central ordinance, the state government had decided to cancel the lapsed leases and auction them to boost its revenue collections.
After the MMDR Ordinance came into effect, it has been in a fix about what to do with the 18 such iron ore and manganese leases which were identified for auction, because section 8 (A) of the ordinance has allowed them to operate till 2020, putting spokes in the state government’s plans to earn about Rs 5,000 crore for the exchequer through auction of these mines.
As per constitutional provision, the ordinance has to be ratified by the Parliament within six months of promulgation or else it will lose its status as the law of the land. BJD has 20 MPs in Lok Sabha and has seven seats in the 250 member Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament.
