State yet to submit status report on mining leases to the Centre.
The upcoming meet of the Central Coordination cum Empowered Committee (CEC) in New Delhi on April 28, which will take stock of delays in processing of mineral concession cases, is likely to land the Orissa government in embarrassing position.
The going is set to be tough for Orissa which is yet to submit quarterly reports on status of disposal of applications for mineral concessions, status of execution of mining leases and renewal of concessions. In case of Orissa, the quarterly reports are pending since the October-December quarter of 2009-10.
As per a report compiled by the Union ministry of mines (as on February 18), Orissa is the only state which is yet to submit any report to the ministry for the past five quarters.
Besides, as many as 26 cases of Reconnaissance Permit (RP) of mining leases in the state are pending. The Union mines ministry had asked the state government to prepare a time-bound Action Plan for speedy disposal of these pending cases by January 2011.
Manoj Ahuja, the state steel & mines secretary could not be reached for comments.
The CEC meeting to be chaired by Union mines secretary S Vijay Kumar, will review the status of submission of quarterly reports by different mineral rich states, status of disposal of RP cases and issuance of Letter of Intents (LoIs), measures taken to curb illegal mining, progress in implementation of amended Rule 45 of Mineral Concession and Development Rules (MCDR)-1960 and also action taken by the states on violation by various lease holders as reported by the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM).
In its last meeting, the CEC had identified 318 LOIs of mining leases pending in 11 states of the country including 16 in Orissa. The Union mines ministry had subsequently asked the states to ensure that there is no delay in issuance of LoIs.
The other area where Orissa is likely to be cornered is on the action taken against 87 errant miners in the state reported by IBM who have been raising ores beyond the approved mining plan of IBM. Though IBM had submitted its findings, the state steel & mines department has been dilly dallying on any action to be taken against these miners.
On the issue of transport of illegally mined ore, the Union mines ministry hadasked the Orissa government to settle all outstanding issues with the Railways.
The Railways had pointed out that the state government is continuing to issue transport permits per truck and not per rake which is making it difficult to monitor the permits. Railways had sought that transport permits should be issued per rake with truck numbers mentioned in the permit.
The Railways had also alleged that the state government has not posted its officials to man the check points in the railway sidings at Jaruli, Banspani and Barbil where the Railways have put cabins for checking transport permits.
