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With the forest department taking a grim view on Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) carrying out mining activities without forest clearance, the state-controlled miner's Daitari iron ore mines might soon close down.
In a recent letter to Odisha chief secretary B K Patnaik, OMC's chairman and managing director Saswat Mishra said the mine was on the verge of closure due to restrictions imposed by local forest officials. Mishra could not be reached for comment on the matter.
The divisional forest officer (DFO) of Anandpur had issued a showcause notice on the Daitari mines on June 17. The DFO sought an explanation from OMC for use of reserve forest land for mining, infrastructure and ore transportation without forest clearance in stark violation of the Odisha Forest Act, 1972 and Forest Conservation Act, 1980.
In FY13, the Daitari mines had recorded production of 703,440 tonnes of ore. Its closure is likely to have ramifications on industries operating without raw material linkages. Units such as Visa Steel, Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd (NINL), Aarti Steels and Bhushan Steel, which depend on iron ore supplies from the Daitari mines are set to be affected.
With deposits of 50 million tonnes of ore, the Daitari mines at Talipada village under Keonjhar and Jajpur districts are OMC's flagship operations. However, mining activity has dwindled significantly since September 2011 due to issues related to forest clearance. OMC has been mining only partially since then.
OMC's application for forest diversion of the leasehold area spread over 300 acres was forwarded by the state's forest and environment department to the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF). MoEF, in turn, referred the matter to its forest advisory committee and reverted to the state government with a few queries. However, the state government is yet to respond to MoEF's queries. The Daitari lease area falls under the Deogaon and Sukinda ranges of Rebana reserve forest.
