At a time when the cases of renewal of mining leases and fresh mineral concessions have been slowed by lack of statutory clearances, the Orissa government has sought faster forest clearances for these cases.
The state government is set to raise this demand at the fourth meeting of the Central Coordination cum Empowered Committee (CEC) to be held in New Delhi on December 22.
"A lot of mineral concession cases have been held up for want of forest clearance. We will urge the Union ministry of mines to take up the issue with the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) so that the clearances are expedited”, a top official source told Business Standard.
In its meeting, the CEC will look into the status of long-standing mineral concession cases which are pending due to non-receipt of forest clearance.
These cases include new applications for grant of concession in which prior approvals of the Government of India have been given as well as renewal cases. The Union mines ministry is undertaking measures to ensure that the pendency of such cases is minimized.
It may be noted that as many as 310 applicants in the state had applied for renewal of mining leases (RML) out of which 53 were eligible and they are now operating under deemed extension.
To start with, the department will first renew eight out of these 53 cases which have all the requisite clearances and are currently operating under deemed extension. The steel & mines department has already issued renewal notices to the firms operating these mines.
More From This Section
Out of the 53 mining leases, 28 cases which do not have the requisite forest clearance have paid the Net Present Value (NPV) for diversion of forest land for mining activities. The NPV collection from mining activities has been to the tune of Rs 2400 crore out of which the state owned Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) has paid around Rs 800 crore.
There are 10 other cases which have Temporary Work Permit (TWP) and are awaiting the Stage-II forest clearance.
Also, there are two cases sub judice with the Supreme Court of India while other cases of renewal pertain to mining activities being carried out on non-forest land.RML cases in the state were temporarily put on hold as a six-member committee headed by Director (Mines) was constituted to look into the cases of miners raising ores beyond the IBM (Indian Bureau of Mines) approved Mining Plan.