The team members of illegal mining investigator Shah Commission visited the office of Paradip Port Trust (PPT) on Tuesday on the last day of their field probe to gather information regarding exports through the major port.
“The members of the Shah Commission without Justice Shah visited Paradip on Tuesday and discussed with the port officials. The commission members took away some copies of export data which will help them in the (illegal mining) probe,” said S. Anant Chandra Bose, deputy chairman of the PPT.
The commission officials enquired about the data keeping process at the entry point of the port and later ordered the port authority to submit a report regarding entry, maintenance and sharing of export data.
Being the only major port in the state, Paradip is the first favorite of exporters to ship iron ore to China, the major buyer. Besides Paradip port, the miners are exporting ore through Haldia, Visakhapatanam and few other minor ports in the neighbouring states.
Justice Shah Commission has already indicated to train its gun on the export industry as it believes the boom in export prices of iron ore led to large scale illegal mining.
“One thing is certain that the illegal mining took place due to boom in the export (prices). About 92 per cent of mineral extracted were sent to China. Regarding export ban, we have sent a preliminary report to the Central government and the report is under consideration,” Justcie M B Shah said Monday.
The state government, which is also doing its bit to investigate illegal mining activities by its vigilance wing, had earlier directed all the ports exporting minerals extracted from Orissa to share export data with them. Recently, the government banned permits for export of minerals through two Andhra Pradesh based ports for not sharing data with them. These ports are Kakinada and Gangabharam.
The state government meanwhile, has slowed down its process of issuing transit pass for trucks carrying iron ore for export purpose and has barred 27 firms to export the steel making ingredient.
