By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: How Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi has been dancing to the tune of mines owners in the State here is another example and how Union Minister for Tribal Affairs Jual Oram keep mum on open violation of forest and wildlife laws also an example.
CM Majhi led BJP Government in Odisha Government submitted 2 compliance reports to MoEFCC seeking favour for Sajjan Jindal led JSW Steel owned Bhushan Power and Steel Ltd to run Netrabandha Pahar Iron Ore Block under Koira Range in Sundargarh even though its a prime Elephant Habitat , part of Inter-State Elephant Movement Corridors with Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.
Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change ( Forest Conservation Division) in a letter dated 12.-02-2026 to Additional Chief Secretary ( Forest ) Odisha mentioned about the proposal for seeking prior approval of the Central Government under secton-2(1)(ii) of the Van Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan Adhiniyam 1980, in favour of Bhushan Power and Steel Ltd for non-forestry, use of 112.621 ha of forest land including (1.808 ha earmarked for Safety Zone ) in village Baidihi under Koira Tahasil and Koira Range of Bonai Forest Divisoon of Sundargarh within the block area of 139.223 ha in respect of Netrabandha Pahar Iron Ore block.
DIG (Forest ) Raja Ram Singh said that on the basis of the compliance report furnished by the Odisha Government vide letter no -19377/9F(MG-27/2022 dated 17-09-2025 and letter no-272/9F(MG)-27/2022 dated 05-01-2026 “ final” approval of central government under section-2 of the of the Van Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan Adhiniyam 1980 is here by granted for non-forestry use of 112.621 ha of forest land (including 1.808 ha earmarked for safety zone) in village Baldihi under Koira Tahasil and Range of Bonai forest division of Sundargarh within the block area of 139.223 has in respect of Netrabandha Iron Ore block in Odisha.
It said “ Legal status of the diverted forest land shall remain unchanged”. The Odisha Government shall ensure that compensatory afforestation over the non forest land 113.544 ha which has been notified as Jaidega Projected Forest and Jhurmu protected forest’ vide notification no-12237/FE&CC dated 29-05-2025 and 12223/FE&CC dated 29-05-2025 respectively and 2.731 ha of NFL notified as ‘Dharopani protected forest’ vide notification no-12230/FE&CC dated 29-05-2025 shall be raised and work of the afforestation shall start within 2 years of the date of issue of diversion order forest land, it added.
Diversion proposal under Section 2(ii): FP/OR/MIN/26965/2017, submitted online on 5 July 2017 for diversion of 112.621 ha forest land for mining.Stage-I (In-principle) approval granted on 21 December 2023 by MoEFCC (F.No. 8-31/2022-FC) now final approval granted.
The block lies in a prime elephant habitat within the Netrabandha Pahar landscape (Bonai division, part of inter-state elephant movement corridors with Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh).
A central expert panel (MoEFCC + Wildlife Institute of India) site visit and report (pre-Dec 2022) highlighted risks of increased human-elephant conflict, habitat fragmentation, and dispersal due to cumulative mining (operational + proposed) in the area. The Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) in its 9 Dec 2022 meeting directed broader wildlife/elephant impact assessment for the landscape. Odisha has not updated its elephant census since 2016-17 (Bonai division recorded ~60 elephants then).
Netrabandha Pahar Iron Ore Block is a virgin mining lease in village Baldihi (or Baladihi), Koira Tehsil, Bonai Forest Division, Sundargarh district, Odisha. It covers 139.223 ha total area (112.621 ha forest land + 26.602 ha non-forest land). The block was allotted via e-auction on 19 May 2017 to Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd (BPSL), with Letter of Intent (LoI) issued by the Odisha government on 24 June 2017 (corrigendum 27 July 2017). BPSL is now a subsidiary of JSW Steel Ltd following acquisition in March 2021.
The mine is among ~20 non-operational auctioned blocks in Odisha due to pending statutory clearances, including Stage-II FC and possible lease extension. The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has intervened to monitor and expedite such cases, with reviews by the Principal Secretary to the PM.
