Reaffirming its commitment to crackdown on illegal mining activities in the aftermath of the multi million crore mining scam, the state steel and mines department has served show cause notice on iron ore and manganese ore mines owned by BC Deb in Keonjhar district.
The notice, which follows a prolonged administrative enquiry by the department, has been served over flouting of Mineral Concession Rules-1960 and raising minerals by the lessee in violation of laws.
The department has estimated the value of illegally mined ore by BC Deb at INR 243.48 crore. It has asked the lessee to respond to the show cause notice within 30 days.
The department's note read that “You are called upon to show cause within 30 days from the date of receipt of the notice as to why to your renewal application for the said mines should not be refused under Rule 26 (1) of Mineral Concession Rules-1960 and an amount of INR 243.48 crore towards the price of the minerals raised without lawful authority shall not be recovered from you under the provisions of Section 21 (5) of Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) Act-1957 failing which action as per law shall be taken against you.”
The penalty calculated to estimate the value of illegally mined ore has been assessed factoring in mineral excavated inside the safety zone and minerals excavated outside the leasehold area.
The value of 31,217 tonnes of manganese ore excavated from inside the safety zone by BC Deb has been assessed at INR35.95 crore while cost of manganese ore (142,876 tonnes) extracted outside the leasehold area has been calculated at INR 164.57 crore. Similarly, 0.26 million tonnes of iron ore excavated outside the leasehold area has been valued at INR 42.94 crore.
According to the notice served by steel & mines department, the divisional forest officer of Keonjhar, Barbil tahsildar and deputy director of mines Joda carried out a joint verification which revealed BC Deb had undertaken mining operation in the broken up area of 131 acres. Such mining operation violates provisions of Forest Conservation Act-1980.
(Sourced from BS)
