Indian Express reported that Orissa government has appointed a committee to look into cases of excessive mining of iron, chromite, and manganese ore by companies in disregard of existing laws.

Headed by the Director of Mines, the 6 member committee would submit a report on the companies who dug out the ores in excess of the prescribed limit.

A senior official of state steel and mines department said the probe report about the excess mining would be submitted by September 30th 2010. He added that "Excess mining was one of the major aspects of the mining scam. Already the state vigilance department is probing into the roles of government officials in the scam. A state level task force headed by Chief Secretary has already suggested ways to check illegal mining. Several of the recommendations have already been implemented. Now we are going to focus on firms who did excessive mining in the last 10 years."

As per the rules, any mining company before digging up even a handful of earth in the ore rich areas has to obtain a Consent to Operate certificate from the Orissa Pollution Control Board, which stipulates the amount of ore that can be mined in a year. The limit is specified with an eye on collateral environmental damage that mining brings as the waste and overburden the earth that needs to be excavated for extracting the ore is normally three-five times of the actual mineral.

The quantity of ore that is to be extracted every year is specified in the mining plan which is approved by the Indian Bureau of Mines. Mining department officials estimate that over last 45 years, excess ores worth INR 14,000 crore could have been mined by several top companies.

(Sourced from www.indianexpress.com)