By Our Correspondent
JODA/KOIRA/ANGUL/JHARSUGUDA: The Mining and Industrial operations in Odisha’s mineral bearing Joda-Koira-Sukinda circles of State’s Keonjhar-Sundargarh and Jajpur have been turning to normalcy with Union Home Ministry as well as State Government relaxing some restriction imposed in view of COVID-19 Nationwide lockdown. “Normalcy turning first and will be smooth in next few weeks,” sources in Joda-Barbil in Keonjhar said.
Mining and Industry companies in Odisha are among those being hit by weakened demand as the COVID-19 pandemic impacts the global economy. The pandemic has affected the entire value chain, as organizations and companies limit access to offices, mine sites and manufacturing facilities, and restrictions on transportation and shipping increase.
Further, Odisha one of the nation’s major mining states with reserves of and production in important minerals such as iron ore, manganese ore, chrome ore, bauxite and coal, imposed lockdown in the entire State on 24.03.2020 due to COVID-19. However, vide another Order No. 9015 / H&FW dated 24.03.2020, the restrictions of lockdown were excluded inter alia with respect of operations of mines of iron ore, coking coal, thermal coal, limestone, dolomite, manganese, chromite, etc. as well as operation of ferroalloys, iron ore pellet plants etc.
In order to combat the situation which has arisen due to lockdown, the Ministry of Coal released a press released on 28.03.2020 whereby Coal supplies are declared as an Essential service and the officials of Ministry of Coal are directed to work harder to ensure that critical coal supplies are maintained during the lockdown period due to COVID 19 pandemic so that power and other critical sectors are unaffected due to the current situation. As per Coal Ministry, Coal stocks at power plants stand at 41.8 MT equivalent to 24 days consumption as of 26 March 2020 and various steps have been taken to ensure the easy and adequate availability of coal to every coal dependent industry/Power Sector.
Mining is heavily dependent on the availability of manpower/labour who undertake the groundwork; with operations being scaled back, many such migrant labourers and workforce have retreated to their homebase. In addition, the lockdown has not only restricted access to workforce but also placed constraints on the movement of goods. Despite steel, coal and power production are termed as essential services, mining operations have been hampered due to lack of coordination among law enforcement authorities.
Due to aforesaid reasons which are beyond the reasonable control of Mine Developer and Operators (MDOs), various MDOs are forced to invoke force majeure Event clauses under their respective Agreements due to outbreak of COVID 19 and nationwide lockdown.
Therefore, irrespective of the fact that various measures are being undertaken by the governmental machineries for instance excluding mining activities from the ambit of lockdown, the mining sector remains affected due to unavailability of requisite workforce, movement of materials, etc. and the MDOs are forced to halt their mining activities despite their willingness to undertake mining operations. In the circumstances and keeping in view the present unforeseen situation, it is anticipated that government authorities would address the difficulties currently being faced by the MDOs in terms of financial constraints, lack of manpower and restriction on movement of goods/material.
With the Naveen Patnaik led Government in Odisha, which had already approached the Union Government to hike the current 30% use of total DMF funds to 60% of the Rs 9000 crore reserved in Odisha DMF Funds and also reportedly eyeing on Rs 17,000 crore deposited at RBI account of Odisha Mineral Bearing Areas Development Corporation (OMBADC) and the Compensatory Afforestation (CAMPA) got a huge shock after Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI) had sought a slew of measures from the Union Finance Ministry to help the mining industry survive the unprecedented onslaught of a virulent pandemic.
In view of the COVID-19 outbreak and subsequent nationwide lockdown, mining operations have been badly hit. Faced with immense pressure to service existing loans and incur costs towards manpower salaries, miners have asked for deferment of statutory dues like mineral royalties, District Mineral Fund (DMF), National Mineral Exploration Trust (NMET), transfer charges and other levies & cess imposed by the state government till March 2021.
Keeping the interest of thousands of stranded workers and labourers, Odisha Government had announced to allow them to work, those who have already completed 14-day quarantine period. The decision has sent a huge relief for many industry and mining captains in Odisha’s mineral rich districts like Keonjhar, Sundargarh, Mayurbhanj and Jajpur, who facing labour shortage since the lockdown put in place following outbreak of COVID-19.
Various agencies/contractors has been asked to transport them to workplaces in dedicated and designated vehicles. It was issued through a notification. Sources said near about about 86,000 number of workers of which about 16,000 are from within the State of Odisha, who have been accommodated in 2,610 camps in the various districts of Odisha due to nationwide lockdown.
The state government has decided to allow the stranded labourers in an organised manner so as to reach their place of work as per the guidelines.The industries/ agencies/ labour contractors will be allowed to transport their labourers in dedicated and designated buses from camps to the workplace within the state of Odisha, maintaining social distancing and other relevant safety protocols prescribed by Government.
Such industries/ agencies/ contractors will report the details of such labourers, destinations and buses to the concerned District Collector, through the District Labour Officer. The concerned District Collectors will issue movement pass to such contractors across the districts within the state of Odisha for the said purpose. The concerned Collectors may requisition buses to facilitate such movement, if required. However, the expenditure on this account will be borne by the concerned industry/ agency/ contractor.
In such cases where the stranded labourers do not belong to any particular industry/ agency/ contractor the concerned BDOs/ DLOs shall bring it to the notice of the District Collector/ PD DRDA, who will make arrangements for such labourers to travel to the destination of their workplace in groups. The District Collector will requisition buses for the purpose through Regional Transport Officers. The district Collectors are authorized to make expenditure on this account from the CMRF.
Since the buses in the state are off-road due to lockdown, and only for the aforementioned purpose the buses will be made operational, the monthly payment of road tax for such requisitioned buses will be waived. The Commerce and Transport Department will issue necessary orders in this regard.Since these stranded labourers have already completed the recommended quarantine period of 14 days in their respective camps, the recipient local authorities (Sarpanch/ EO ULB/ Collector) shall not insist upon further quarantine of such arriving labourers, to facilitate their immediate joining of workforce. The PR & DW Department and H&UD Department will issue instructions in this regard to the concerned authorities under their jurisdiction.
The District Collectors of the host and recipient districts shall work in close co¬ordination. PD DRDAs will act as district nodal officer. The District Labour Officer will report to the PD DRDA for this work. At State level, Labour Commissioner and Transport Commissioner will coordinate the matter.The data regarding the daily movement will be compiled by the DLOs, in regular coordination with the BDOs, both at the destination and the recipient district, and will be furnished to Labour Commissioner, on daily basis.A High-level Committee chaired by APC-cum-ACS with PS Labour & ESI and PS Commerce & Transport as members, will review and monitor the movement on a daily basis.
