Bhubaneswar: The Central Government has sent back the Odisha Government’s proposal for granting Prospecting License (PL) for the Khandadhar Iron ore mine to POSCO. The state government had forwarded the PL proposal for an Iron ore mine over an area of 2,500 Hectares (HA) in villages of Kensara, Bhatuda, Rantha, Batagaon, Sareikela, Lusi & Raisuan under Bonai sub division of Sundargarh district to the Ministry of Mines (MoM) on 10 Jan, 2014.
The Union Ministry of Mines, after going through the recommendations of the state government, returned it after rising a number of queries, which need to be clarified by the State. In the first place, the Union Government has raised objection over sending a combined proposal for both notified & non-notified area for Iron ore mining under section 11(3)& 11(5) of the MMDR Act, 1957. The Ministry has said, the application for notified & non-notified area under section 11(3) & 11(5) of the MMDR Act, 1957 cannot be sent together, since applications for notified area under section 11 (3) are deemed to have been received on the same day, while section 11(5) is applicable is received for an applicant, who comes later.
It has asked to give the notification for starting and closing dates for receiving the application of notification as it has not been mentioned in proposal, said official sources. The Ministry has said that Section 11(3) of Act is for evaluation of capability and inter-se merits of the applicants with respect to special knowledge and experience in reconnaissance operations, prospecting operations or mining operations, financial resources of the applicant, nature and quality of the technical staff employed, investment proposed in mines and industry.
Section 11(5) of the Act envisages ‘Special Conditions’ for evaluation of public interest and for economic development with respect to exhaustion of captive capacity, special technology, ownership of land for recommended area, adjoining area for mining in interest of scientific and systematic mining and reduction in barrier loss, pointed out the Union Ministry of Mines.
While evaluating the case, the requirement of law under section 11(3) of the Act were given due consideration by the state government, however the case was not evaluated for fulfilling requirement of section 11(5) of MMDR Act, said the Ministry.
Secondly, POSCO signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the state government on 22 Jun, 2005, which has already expired on 22 Jun, 2010. The fate of the MoU is not clear and current status of the investment by POSCO India is not reflected in the proposal.
While, MoU is not yet renewed and the state government is still reviewing the same. The Union Ministry of Mines has raised query in this regard and wants a clear cut reply, said official sources.
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