A direction by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) might throw spanner in the works for renewal of iron ore mines held by Serajuddin & Company in Odisha.
The tribunal has asked the Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) to probe into the allegations of extracting iron ore by the lessee in violation of environmental norms. The Balda iron ore mines of Serajuddin lapses on December 2. The lessee has already applied for renewal in advance and Steel & mines Deptt (Govt. of Odisha) has extended the validity of the mining lease up to 31 Mar’2020.
The state mining department officials, though, sounded upbeat on the renewal. “There is no hurdle in paper work for Serajuddin Mines. We have already recommended the case for renewal till 2020 as per the provisions of the amended MMDR Act. The final call would be taken by an inter-departmental committee chaired by the development commissioner and constituted to examine the extension of validity of mining leases in the state.”
Asked if the latest NGT order could have any impact on renewal, he said, “That could be a separate case and it needs to be vetted by the MoEF. To our notice, no such statutory violation has been reported in case of Serajuddin Mines.”
An NGT panel comprising Justice S P Wangdi and a judicial member of NGT-Kolkata has pronounced the ruling after hearing the case relating to Serajuddin last Tuesday. Apart from MoEF, the petitioners have made the Odisha government, the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB), Balda mining authorities as well as the Keonjhar district collector and divisional forest officer parties in the case.
Serajuddin & Company was given the go-ahead to mine in 24.446 hectares of rural forest land, 113.73 hectare of deemed forest land and 33.192 hectare of non-forested land till December 2, 2017.
But, the petitioners alleged the company failed to manage 36.85 tonnes of solid waste and dumped it in the mines. It was also asked to develop a green cover along Betajhari and Jalapa canals which has not been adhered to. Similarly, the mining company has not taken any measures to check air pollution even as more than 18,000 vehicles ply in the mining region. This apart, it increased its extraction capacity four times violating the guidelines, the petitioners alleged.
The Balda block iron ore mines of Serajuddin & Co, is operating a mining lease over an extent of 335.594 hectares for iron ore in Balda, Kalimati and Nayagarh under Bamebari of Keonjhar district. The mine has been in operations since 1962 for iron ore to cater to the raw material in indigenous iron & steel industries as well as for exports.
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