Mining entities in Odisha are in a rush to fork out penalties ordered by the Supreme Court (SC) for overproduction during 2000-11, as the December 31 deadline looms.
The companies need to pay a total of about Rs 17,576 crore in compensation for extracting iron and manganese ore beyond the limits approved earlier under environment clearance (EC) rules. After the SC recently ruled out any extension in payment deadline, the companies are making intense effort to save their operational leases. The top court also ruled out payment in instalments.
"All big captive and merchant mining companies would pay the compensation amount to