Odisha government is to send cancellation notice to 18 major mines , which were operating under 2nd deemed renewal and were asked to closed down in May 2014, after the Supreme Court’s order, asking them to reply within a month regarding why their lease renewal application should not be rejected.
18 mines include major mines of KJS Ahluwalia, Rungta, Tata Steel, Mesco, AMTC, KN Ram, Kalinga Mining Corp and few others. Iron ore production from these closed mines in last fiscal was about 18-19 MnT.
This will come as a major setback for small and mid-sized Steel & Sponge companies, which are dependent on Odisha for their raw material requirement, if leases are actually cancelled.
The government is bound to take a stance regarding the renewal of the mining leases in context to the apex court’s order on 16 May, 2014 which had directed it to expedite the 26 pending applications within 6- month, while, ordering halt to mining operation at these mines running under provisional clearance known as ‘deemed extension’. Though, the state government has allowed Iron ore production at eight of the closed 26 mines on 29 May, 2014 through an express order, it was sitting over the applications of the rest mines since.
Leave a Reply