BS reported that cracking the whip on errant miners for violation of Rule 37 of Mineral Concession Rules 1960, the Orissa government has issued show cause notices on three miners Indrani Patnaik, KJS Ahluwalia and TP Sao operating in Keonjhar district.

Mr Raghunath Mohanty minister for industries and steel & mines after a high level review meeting on the mining sector by the state chief minister Mr Naveen Patnaik told reporters that “Based on the findings of the 6 member committee constituted to probe into alleged violation of Rule 37 of Mineral Concession Rules 1960, we have issued show cause notices to three lessees Indrani Patnaik, KJS Ahluwalia and TP Sao. The enquiry for 5 other miners is under way and after receipt of report from the committee, we will initiate action against these miners in case of detection of violation of the rule.”

The alleged nexus between the mine lessees and raising contractor Triveni Earthmovers Ltd in the Joda mining circle in Koenjhar district had snowballed into a major issue with the MLAs of the opposition Congress as well as the ruling Biju Janata Dal urging the Chief Minister to initiate stringent action against the miners as well as the contractor.

The state government had appointed 16 chartered accountants to detect cases of alleged violations of Rule 37 of Mineral Concession Rules- 1960. These chartered accountants were appointed to conduct preliminary verification of balance sheet, audited accounts, tax audit report, IT and VAT (Value Added Tax) returns) as well as related documents of the mines. The chartered accountants were to carry out the work assigned to them in a team with an officer of the mining department. The mining officer would be from a mining circle other than in which the mine is located.

Earlier, the state government had constituted a 6 member committee to carry out an investigative study of the financial transaction of the lesses and the raising contractors.

As a part of its crackdown on illegal mining activities in the state, the enforcement squad on mining had registered 2104 cases of which 1640 cases were at the district level and the remaining 464 being at the state level, the minister informed.

(Sourced from BS)