Even as the Orissa government has pitched for competitive bidding in the Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) Bill-2011 and the proposal is understood to have been accepted by the Empowered Group of Ministers, Government of India, doubts are being raised whether the state would gain anything from adoption of this new system.
An MLA of ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Bhagirathi Sethy from Keonjhar district, the most mineral rich district in the state, pointed out that the state has already leased out 138 iron ore mines and 42 manganese mines and there are no eligible mines to be leased out through the competitive bidding process.
Besides, around 300 mining lesses pocketed Rs 15317.10 crore in 2009-10, exceeding the state's revenue earnings of Rs 12,194.54 crore in the same period due to faulty policy of the state, he claimed.
According to Sethy, the lessees during 2009-10, have extracted and sold 7.93 million tonnes of iron ore and 686,000 tonnes of manganese.
Advocating the suggestion of the Sanjeev Hota committee for state Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) taking control of all mineral resources, the MLA sought the intervention of state steel & mines minister, Raghunath Mohanty to consider cancellation of mining leases of the offenders for growth of the state exchequer.
Sethy also alleged that some mining lessees were raising ores beyond the approved quantity in blatant contravention of Section 22 (A) of Mineral Concession Rules-1960 and Section 13 of Mineral Conservation and Development Rules-1988. The list of such miners inlcuded Essel Mining & Industries Ltd, Mesco, Rungta Sons Pvt Ltd, M L Rungta, Orhat Mines and Kaypee Enterprises in the Joda mining circle.
According to the letter, Mesco lifted 1.6 million tonnes of ore in 2006-07 and 2.58 million tonnes in 2007-08 as against the approved quantum of 50,000 tonnes per annum. Similarly, Essel Mining & Industries Ltd reported an excess production of 13.8 million tonnes, 6.8 million tonnes and 400,000 tonnes of ore from the Jhiling, Kalia and Uchchabali areas respectively in the Joda circle.
As against an approved mining plan for raising 200,000 tonnes of ore, Kaypee Enterprises actually raised 1.8 million tonnes in 2006-07 and 1.9 million tonnes in 2007-08 from its Thakurani iron ore mines. Likewise, the actual iron ore production of Runga Sons Pvt Ltd from its Sanujpada mines stood at 453,502 tonnes and 868,608 tonnes in 2005-06 and 2007-07 respectively compared to the approved quantum of 96,000 tonnes.
