Due to delay at various levels of administration, as many as 9,211 applications for mineral concession (MC) are pending with the Orissa government for disposal by October 2009.
This includes 1011 applications pending in the directorate of mines (DoM), 2488 in the steel and mines department and 5712 applications at the level of mining officers (MO), deputy director of mines (DDM) and collectors.
Similarly the number of operational mines in the state is much below the number of leases granted. Out of 596 mining lease (ML) licenses given for an aggregate area of 966 square kilometres for major minerals, 376 leases are in operation. Out of 176 MLs granted for minor minerals like decorative and dimension stones over an area of 21 square kilometer, 88 mining leases are in operation.
This has been brought out by the Mineral Development Vision for Orissa, submitted to the Orissa government by the Society of Geoscientists and Allied Technologists (SGAT), a body dedicated to the promotion of mineral development and environmental measures.
While the state government mobilised about Rs 1380 crore as mining royalty, the outlay for the sector in the state budget for 2009-10 is only Rs 35 crore, which is 0.12 percent of the total budget outlay.
The report has suggested for reassessment of the mineral resources in the state as per the United Nations Framework Classification (UNFC), reassessment of reserves of iron ore at lower cut off level of 50 percent Fe content, deeper drilling of iron ore, chromite and manganese mines.
Report said, since about Rs 35 crore will be required in the next 2-3 year for taking up exploration work, the directorate of geology (DoG) should prepare a shelf of projects for possible assistance or funding by the United Nations Development Programme and other world bodies and foreign organisations.
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Talking to the media on the Mineral Development Vision, B K Mohanty, advisor, SGAT said, the total area held under the leases for major minerals is about 0.64 percent of the state’s land area. It will increase to 1 percent in 2020, if all developmental programmes envisaged in the plan materialises.
It will be possible to control the operations over 1 percent of the land area if adequate staff are deployed. The vision plan focuses on developmental needs of four minerals namely bauxite, chromite, coal and iron ore.
Mohanty said, small bauxite deposits numbering more than 100 and having reserves of less than 5 million tonne should be leased out. Similarly, underground mining in Sukinda area should be taken up. A separate company may be formed by Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) for Talcher coal mines.
For checking pollution in iron ore mining areas, SGAT has suggested for formulation of regional environment management plans. On coal royalty, the report suggests that the state government should take up the issue of coal royalty with the Government of India (GoI) as the next revision is due from 1 August, 2010.The provision of exemption of royalty on coal consumed by workmen should be dispensed with.
Mohanty said, virgin areas, areas for which intention of grant has been communicated, areas for which lease has been granted but not executed and surrendered areas are more vulnerable to illegal mining. In such cases where irregularities are noticed, he said, instead of canceling the lease, notice should be issued to the mines owners to rectify the violations.
SGAT criticized the Orissa government for its move to survey the lease boundaries with the assistance of IIT, Kharagpur and ORSAC. It pointed out that these bodies do not have the expertise to survey lease boundaries at the field level and suggested that Survey of India (SoI), directorate of geology (DoG) and organisations like Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) may be roped in for the purpose.