The Orissa government has seized around four lakh tonnes of illegally mined minerals including iron ore, manganese and bauxite from the Joda-Barbil and Koira regions of Keonjhar district from April 2009 to May 2010.
In the aftermath of the multi-million crore mining scam, which had caught the state government in a tight spot, 384 illegal activities were detected in the said period which includes 292 offences in the Joda-Barbil belt and 92 offences in the Koira region.
“The value of these seized minerals has been estimated at Rs 17.65 crore. As many as 222 vehicles involved in illegal mining activities have been seized”, said Raghunath Mohanty, the state minister for steel and mines.
The state government has realized Rs 6.91 crore from the seizure operations which includes the penalty imposed on illegally mined ores and the cots realized from the disposal of confiscated ores and minerals.
Of the total value of the seized minerals of Rs 17.65 crore, minerals worth Rs 16.68 crore have been seized from the Joda-Barbil belt while the balance Rs 96.43 lakh from the Koira region.
The seizure operations include 3.63 lakh tonnes of iron ore, 6879 tonnes of manganese and 270 tonnes of bauxite. More than 75 per cent of the minerals have been seized from the Joda-Barbil belt.
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the mining scam, the state government has cancelled the mining license of Ram Bahadur Thakur Limited while the administrative enquiry is underway for Arjun Ladha and B C Dev Mines.
These three mining firms were allegedly carrying out illegal mining operations on reserved forest land without the requisite clearance of the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF).The state steel and mines department has also filed its response to the interim report of the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) of the Supreme Court of India on the illegal mining scam in Orissa. The next hearing on the matter by the Apex court is scheduled for hearing later this month. The state government has accepted most of the recommendations of CEC and has incorporated minor changes.
In its 85-page interim report, the CEC had pointed out that there was rampant illegal mining in Orissa, which was going on for a long time in violation of the forest conservation act, air and water act and various norms of environmental clearance.
The findings of the CEC are based on the submissions made by the complainant and the Orissa government in the matter. The CEC report also mentioned that the production level in many mines was above the quantity approved in the mining plan (MP).
Besides, a large number of mines remained operational for long period of time, even after the expiry of the mining leases due to the delay in taking decisions on renewal applications filed by the lease holders.
