Though the steel and mines department had recently said that hearing of applications for the prospecting licence (PL) for Khandadhar iron ore reserve was completed, it has to resume the exercise for 16 other applications as the directorate was unaware of them, official sources said.
The state government, which had completed the hearing of 207 applications last month, would hear a total of 223 now. All the applications were submitted by September last year, sources said.
"The authorities came to know about these 16 applications just before the state government was about to start final processing for formally recommending the name of a company for the PL for Khandadhar," a senior official said.
"The government will work according to the guidelines of the MMDR Act, 1953," steel and mines secretary Ashok Dalwai said, indicating that he would soon begin hearing of fresh applications.
