State to spend Campa fund in mining area

The Odisha government has decided to focus on providing basic amenities in tribal villages in mineral bearing areas by arranging money from Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (Campa).

A high-level meeting led by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik decided to spend Campa funds to carry out a host of developmental activities through a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) with major thrust on the sectors like education, healthcare and drinking water.

It was also decided in the meeting to take up afforestation in an extensive way, so that each forest circles and district would have a mega nursery. So far, about 75 nurseries have been opened up out of the total 282 units proposed in different forest ranges. Campa was constituted in 2009 as per the direction of the Supreme Court, which asked all the state governments to carry out developmental activities in the mineral rich areas with funds collected from agencies operating in mining areas. The apex court had directed states to deposit the collected amount with an ad-hoc fund of the central government. The role of Campa is to provide money to mineral bearing states to spend on a host of activities like forest and wildlife conservation and afforestation.

Odisha not to renew MoU of Deepak Steel

The Department of Steel and Mines, Government of Odisha has decided not to renew the MoU signed with Deepak Steel and Power Ltd after the promoter of the company was found to be involved in illegal mining activity.

The Department has cancelled the trading licence of the company and asked the miners not to sell iron ore to the firm. The company operating Uliburu iron ore mines in Joda mining circle under the power of attorney received from original lease holder B K Mohanty, is accused of raising ore from an adjacent plot categorised as reserve forest area and is said to have made money worth Rs 1,800 crore by exporting the mineral.

In 2005, Deepak Steel & Power Ltd had proposed to set up a 0.25 million tpa steel plant at Topodih (Barbil) entailing an investment of Rs 195.31 crore. In 2010, the company was asked to expedite work on its project and furnish a report to the state government on the state of land acquisition and actual investments grounded as soon as possible. It was warned that if it failed to submit the details then its MoU may be cancelled.

Miner B K Mohanty, who had authorised Gupta to operate the iron ore lease, has been issued notice by the Joda deputy director of mines (DDM) for illegal mining and selling of minerals worth Rs 1,776 crore.

Meanwhile, the Shah Commission has asked for clarification on the illegal activities in Mohanti’s lease-hold area.

Joint team inspects iron ore mines

A joint team of state officials conduced field verification of mining leases of Tata Steel, Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC), Serajuddin & Company and Kalinga Mining Corporation (KMC) in the iron ore rich Joda sector to oversee any possible encroachment of lease boundaries.

The team inspected Tata Steel’s Khandabandh mines and Guruda mines of Serajuddin & Company.

As per the instructions of the Shah commission, the state government had constituted five teams- one each for three mining circles in Keonjhar district and two mining circles in Sundergarh district. Each of the teams consisted of two members each from the departments of revenue, forest and steel & mines. These committees were headed by a scientist from Odisha Space Application Centre (ORSAC).

These five teams were supervised by two district level committees headed by the collectors of Sundergarh and Keonjhar districts. Moreover, a state level committee was formed under D Biswal, additional secretary (forest & environment).

The committee’s responsibility was to ascertain if a mine owner undertook mining beyond lease area.