Business Standard reported that Odisha Mining Corporation has scrapped the joint venture deal with Delhi-based Sainik Mining & Allied Services Ltd after the state controlled miner faced a barrage of criticism for conceding controlling stake in the joint venture to the private player.

Odisha’s steel & mines minister Mr Rajani Kant Singh said “OMC's deal with SMASL has been scrapped.”

OMC CMD Mr Saswat Mishra said “The deal with SMASL was scrapped on September 27 this year. We just complied with the government's directive. No reasons were cited for pulling the plug on the deal.”

The state government is understood to be playing safe on the issue of coal blocks and projects linked to coal mining after finding itself in a bind against coal block allocation row.

The equity pattern of the OMC-SMASL joint venture had also drawn flak from the Ministry of Coal which had held OMC guilty of violating the Act by conceding controlling stake to a private player for developing a coal block alloted to a state PSU.

Source - Business Standard

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