The Odisha government has decided to consult its law department and the Government of India on renewal of 55 working mines with involvement of forest diversion cases.
While the February 1 guidelines of the Union ministry of environment & forests (MoEF) have made it mandatory for the lessees to obtain full diversion of forest land to be eligible for renewal, these 55 operational mines have achieved only partial diversion. The state steel & mines department is in a quandary regarding renewal of these mines since the Odisha High Court in December last year had called for getting these cases disposed off within three months. The MoEF, on the contrary, had allowed two years time to the miners to obtain diversion of the entire forest land within their leasehold area.
"We are going to seek clarification from the Centre and also from our law department regarding renewal of these 55 mines. We have to wait for their renewal since full forest diversion has not been achieved", said mines director Deepak Mohanty.
Failing to comply with the guidelines of MoEF would mean surrendering of the portion of the lease area by the miners where forest diversion has not been obtained.
The mining department has prepared a check list in respect of all these mines. The check list is mainly based on copies of orders and letters of different authorities as against any statutory clearance or other approvals. It should also be accompanied by joint verification reports of the district level task force on mining. Since applying for full forest diversion and obtaining the same by the miners will be time consuming, the state government has already requested the Odisha High Court to allow more time to dispose off all pending cases of renewal.
As many as 323 mining lease applications are pending for renewal. Three officers of the steel & mines department were dedicated to the task of deciding renewal to expedite the process.
