By Our Business Bureau
BHUBANESWAR/JODA/SUKINDA: The Kamarda deposit being mined by BC Mohanty and the Saruabil mine by Misrilall Mines. Both were bagged by a Tata Steel subsidiary at steep bids of 96.8 percent and 88.5 per cent and respectively.
The Odisha government is likely to auction the Sukinda chromite mine and another working iron ore mine that were being reserve for the state-owned Odisha Mineral Exploration Corporation Ltd.
A notification to ‘de-reserve’ is to be issued very soon and the blocks could be advertised as soon as next week, sources said on Saturday.
The state’s decision is believed to have stemmed from the recent ordinance by the Narendra Modi government and an unwillingness to delay the resumption of any working mine lapsing in less than three months.
Both were bagged by a Tata SteelNSE 0.66 % subsidiary at steep bids of 96.8 percent and 88.5 per cent and respectively. Choosing to reserve for OMECL Tata Steel’s Sukinda chromite mine and RP Sao’s iron ore mine, the state government had already written to the Centre for approval.
About-turn was prompted by the Centre’s 10th January ordinance amending the Mines and Mineral Development and Regulation Act. The ordinance extends a seamless transfer of environment and other statutory clearances for a period of two years to the one emerging as the highest bidder.
Green clearances granted under the Forest (Conservation) Act and the Environmental Protection Act (and not under the MMDR Act) had until now been considered coterminus with a lease — a view that the Supreme Court had also upheld in the past. “The ordinance however, makes no provision for a lease reserved for a state PSU despite the fact that the Centre was well aware of our decision to reserve these deposits,” said an official.
