Vinaykumar Kulkarni, Minister of State for Mines and Geology, today said that the government was awaiting the directions of the Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) to initiate legal action against ‘C’ category mines that had indulged in illegal mining activities.
Responding to questions by presspersons here on Saturday, Mr. Kulkarni, on the steps being initiated by the State government to recover the loss to the exchequer caused by 51 ‘C’ category mines, said that the matter was still being handled by the CEC and it was expected to issue guidance in this regard. “CEC itself had been calculating the extent of ore illegally extracted by the ‘C’ category mines, the quantum of fine to be imposed and the like. Based on its direction, we will initiate legal action.”
To another question, he said that the process of e-auctioning 14 out of the total 51 ‘C’ category mines had got delayed following objections from the firms keen to participate in e-auction that the stamp duty proposed to be imposed was high. In turn, the State government was considering imposing of stamp duty based on the royalty, in consultation with the departments of Revenue, Finance, and Mines and Geology, and was likely to announce its decision in eight to 10 days.
Over the process of identifying and exploration of fresh ore deposits blocks in the forest areas in Sandur and Hosapete taluks in the district, when ‘C’ category mines, whose leases have been cancelled following directions from the Supreme Court, were yet to be auctioned, Mr. Kulkarni said that the State government had initiated the process with the intention of allotting a block of the newly identified area to Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Plant in Bhadravati.
“The plant, with 8,000 workers, was facing shortage of iron ore. It was getting ore from Chattisgarh at Rs. 5,700 per tonne and was unable to meet break-even. With that in view identification of new ore deposits was taken up. However, so far no decision had been taken on allotment of fresh areas to the plant”, he clarified.
