Odisha plans to restore coastal green cover
Uprooted trees in Puri. Nearly 22 lakh trees have been destroyed in the cyclone in Odisha.Biswaranjan Rout Cyclone Fani-hit State aims at planting over 1.3 crore saplings as per a five-year scheme
Uprooted trees in Puri. Nearly 22 lakh trees have been destroyed in the cyclone in Odisha.Biswaranjan Rout Cyclone Fani-hit State aims at planting over 1.3 crore saplings as per a five-year scheme
At a time when controversy surrounding block allocations has caught different coal bearing states in a bind, the Ministry of Coal has urged the Odisha government to submit its action taken report at the earliest in connection with illegal coal mining activities. In the light of observations made by the parliamentary standing committee on coal & steel, coal secretary S K Srivastava has asked Odisha chief secretary B K Patnaik to expedite the action taken reports so that they can be compiled and sent to the Lok Sabha secretariat.
The team has so far completed investigating records of 65 mines and is expected to verify about 20 odd papers The five member team of Justice M B Shah Commission of enquiry, which has been in Odisha since October 3 to probe illegal mining, has detected massive irregularities during scrutinisation of mining records and other documents. Most of the irregularities include conducting mining operation without statutory clearances such as forest and environment.
The ongoing enquiry into illegal mining in Odisha by the members of Shah Commission may get an extension due to huge pile of files and some complexity detected in the mining lease papers. So far, the commission has checked files of only 32 mining leases, out of the list of 142 leases it had submitted to the government. With the remaining period of their visit, which ends on October 11, it is impossible to verify the documents related to rest of the mines.
The Orissa government which faces the allegation of large-scale irregularities in mining operations, has sparked off yet another controversy by bringing out an “ambiguous” resolution to regulate the sector. The resolution is viewed by mining experts as a “hurried” move to give an impression to the visiting Shah Commission that it is serious to check illegal mining.
The Justice M B Shah Commission of enquiry which is on a visit to Odisha will probe all mining leases allocated in the state since 1952. “We are going to probe all mining leases granted in the state since 1952. The panel will examine whether these leases are operational or closed,” said U V Singh, head of the probe panel. The panel in its second day of scrutiny into alleged irregularities in the mining activities had invited some private mine owners from Keonjhar district.
The state steel and mines department has circulated a new guideline for second and subsequent renewal of iron ore, manganese, chromite and bauxite mines in the state. While framing the guideline, the department has invoked a 1996 judgement of the Supreme Court which ruled that second and subsequent renewals cannot be claimed by lessees as a matter of right.
The exports have increased substantially in the last 2-3 years Trade body Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) has urged the Union ministry of commerce and industry to ban bauxite exports fearing closure of alumina refineries for shortage of the key raw material required to produce alumina. “India has a large and developed aluminum industry. But the industry is today at cross roads primarily owing to severe shortage of raw materials, forcing plant closure and jeopardizing employment,” Arnab Kumar Hazra, Director, Ficci wrote to SR Rao, Union Commerce Secretary.
Power generation at National Thermal Power Corporation’s (NTPC) 3,000 MW Kaniha plant, the country’s second biggest power plant, has drastically gone down in September due to coal crunch. According to NTPC sources, a 500 MW unit has been shut down since the beginning of this month for want of coal. Similarly, another 500 MW unit which was closed three days back for the same reason is yet to be restored.
Mideast Integrated Steel Ltd (MISL), a Mesco group company having an one million tonne pig iron plant at Kalinganagar in Jajpur district of Odisha, plans to upgrade the unit to a 1.2 million tonne finished steel product facility by the end of December 2014. “The company has begun upgrading its Kalinganagar plant into a fully integrated steel plant of 1.2 million tonne per annum (MTPA) capacity. With an investment of Rs 1,000 crore, a steel melting shop with rolling mill for rebar and wire rod is being set up,” said J K Singh, president of Mesco Group.
The Odisha government has decided to impose levy of Rs 1 per tonne on mineral transported through the electronic route. The state cabinet on Tuesday okayed an amendment to the Odisha Minerals (Prevention of Theft, Smuggling and Illegal Mining and Regulation of Possession, Storage and Transport) Rules-2007 to enable the imposition of this user fee. “The proceeds of the levy on minerals transported through the e-route will be used for maintaining IT infrastructure. The user fee will be currently applicable to iron ore and later extended to coal which is also going to be brought under e-permit,” said state chief secretary B K Patnaik after the cabinet meeting.