Business Standard reported that the Odisha government recently found itself in a tight spot over the role of its PSU Odisha Mining Corporation in excess production with the opposition pointing out that the state owned miner had extracted excess ore valued at INR 35,000 crore.
Mr Prasad Harichandan senior Congress leader and Opposition chief whip after moving an adjournment motion on Mining loot and coal block allocation scam said that"The penalty imposed on OMC is more than half of the total amount of INR 65,492.73 crore assessed by the steel&mines department on excess ore raised by all lessees.Besides,OMC is also involved in illegal mining."
Mr Harichandan said that several mines of OMC including Bhanjapalli,Roida,Bhadrasahi,Bansapani Dubuna,Kaliapani,south Kaliapani,Khandabandh,Gandhamardhan A and Gandhamardhan-B have been involved in excess production.
He said the by issuing show cause notices to lessees under Section 21(5)of Mines and Minerals Act 1957 for recovering cost of production worth INR 65,492.73 crore,the state government has admitted mining scam of that magnitude.
He added that the government on OMC Sainik Mining deal,seeking to know if the CM had decided in favour of the JV and conceding 74%stake to the private player.
Mr Naba Kishore Das congress MLA said that"Why was the state government silent on the issue of excess production for all these years?This government is not serious on collecting penalty from the mine owners.The government was also unable to frame a mining policy in the past 12 years.The mining scam in Odisha has emerged as the biggest scam of the state in the past decade."
Responding to the allegations,Mr Rajani Kant Singh minister of steel&mines said that"The actual penalty on OMC is INR 8000 crore and not INR 35,000 crore as alleged by the Opposition.Besides,the Indian Bureau of Mines is responsible for excess ore production."
Source-Business Standard