On January 1, the Odisha mines department stopped the operations of Balda iron ore mines owned by Serajuddin & Company. It was one of the seven working iron ore & manganese mines that faced shutdown. The reason was non-payment of the compensation ordered by the Supreme Court for EC (environment clearance) violations. All miners in Odisha guilty of overproduction were bound to pay the penalties by December 31 to save their operations.
But, Serajuddin’s case is a curious one. And, they owned a large mine with an annual capacity of 15 million tonnes of iron ore. In its status as a big merchant miner, Serajuddin was a key supplier to steel and other end-user industries who operated without captive iron ore resources.
What led to Serajuddin failing to pay the compensation within the prescribed deadline? Official records show Serajuddin has made a part payment of Rs 15 crore. A mining industry source attributed the crisis to the spat between promoters and partners of Serajuddin. Another key reason could be the confiscation of the miner’s bank accounts with deposits totaling Rs 650 crore by the Enforcement Directorate. But, Serajuddin still had the option to raise funds from banks to pay the dues as some other miners did as a last-ditch effort to save their operational leases.
The argument that Serajuddin could have given up the lease on depleting iron ore reserves is not tenable. The source added the Balda mines still had ample reserves to last for many years- at least till the lease period of March 31, 2020.
There were no barriers from the Odisha government as well. The government had extended the validity of Serajuddin’s mines till 2020 as there was no hurdle in the paper work. However, Serajuddin recently got a shock from the National Green Tribunal (NGT). 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. 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 hectares of deemed forest land and 33.192 hectares 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, was 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 was 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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