The Odisha government has cleared the way for the seven more mining block’s auction in the fourth phase which will take place shortly.
The steel and mines minister Prafulla Mallik informed the state assembly in his written reply that, the state government has so far auctioned five mining blocks including three iron ore blocks and one each of limestone and manganese.
Netrabandha Pahar iron ore west block in Sundargarh, Pipalmunda limestone block (Bolangir), Naringpanga graphite block (Rayagada), Rengalbedha north east iron ore block (Sundargarh), Gandhalpada south east iron ore block (Keonjhar), Pureibahal iron ore block (Sundargarh) and Chandiposhi iron ore block (Sundargarh) are the seven blocks that would be auctioned, the minister clarified.
“We are in the last stage of completing formalities like preparation of geological report, differential global positioning system (DGPS) survey, a satellite survey system, scheduling of land and mapping of these seven mining blocks. The formalities would be completed by October, so that these blocks can be notified for auction in November,” director of mines Deepak Mohanty said according to reports.
Mining blocks in Odisha are auction through e-auction process. Previously in the third phase, Bhushan Steel Limited emerged as the preferred bidders for the Kalmang west iron ore mine. Bhushan Power and Steel Limited had also bagged iron ore block then.
Earlier, Essar Steel was the first to bag the Ghorhaburhani-Sagasahi iron ore block in Sundargarh through e-auction process. Odisha was also the first state to auction an iron ore block. Essar Steel proposed a production capacity of 7.16 million tonne per annum (mtpa) run of the mine product from the iron ore block. As part of the project, the steel company will also set up a crushing & screening plant and a beneficiation plant with a capacity of 6.7 mtpa over an area of 139.16 hectares (ha) at Ghoraburhani, Sagasahi and Kalmang villages situated in Sundargarh district.
An official in the steel and mines department answering on the status of the blocks post-auction, said it would take at least three years for the successful bidders to start mining operation as they have to complete land acquisition at the site, obtain mining plan and statutory clearances from various agencies and ministries.
However the state government has collected less than half of the revenue from mining and metal sectors against the targeted amount. According to reports Mr. Mallik have stated that, the state government’s target is to generate a revenue of Rs 6630 crore from the mining sector. “It has so far collected Rs 2395.03 crore,” he said.
The minister did not mention any reason behind the sluggish speed of revenue collection from the sector, the people related to the matter from the department explained that it is in the third and fourth quarters of every fiscal year the revenue collection speeds up usually.
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