-Officials in a spot over NGT order implications
The Odisha mines department has extended the lease validity of iron ore mines held by Serajuddin & Company in Odisha. The lease period expired on December 2 this year.
“We have extended the validity of Serajuddin iron ore lease till March 31, 2020. The extension is done as per the provisions of Section 8 (3) of the amended Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulation) Act, 2015. There was no hurdle in paper work for the lease, so we proceeded with the routine extension’’, said an official with the state mines department.
Asked on the implications of the recent order by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), he said, “The lease validity is already extended, so there is no issue with it. Also, the lessee can extract and sell ore normally as there is no stay by the court yet. If the NGT wants, it can intermittently stop operations of the mine”, he added.
Though the state government has been named as one of the parties in the case, the onus is on the Ministry of environment, forests & climate change (MoEF&CC) to investigate into the allegations of over production by Serajuddin beyond the approved limits.
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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