The Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) has found large-scale illegal mining of iron and manganese ore in the forest lands of Odisha.
In its report submitted to the apex court in a public interest writ petition seeking a ban on illegal mining in Odisha, the CEC, quoting the figures of the Odisha government, said, “As per the details given by the Odisha Forest Department, 286.392 lakh MT of iron ore, valued at Rs.13,898.20 crore has been excavated from the forest land without approvals under the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980. Out of the above, 67.74 lakh MT was illegally excavated during the years 1985-98, 54.38 lakh MT from November 17, 2002 to February 15, 2005 and 164.27 lakh MT from August 15, 2005 to August 27, 2009.”
Indicting the State government, the CEC said, “It is seen that illegal mining in the forest area included in the mining lease has been undertaken on a massive scale by the lessee concerned and that too spread over a large number of years. The CEC is unable to comprehend how illegal mining on such a massive scale was allowed to take place and how by issuing transit permits such illegal mineral was allowed to be transported through the Railways.”
