Shah Commission alleges`22,000 cr illegal ore mining in Jharkhand

DNA Shah Commission alleges`22,000 cr illegal ore mining in Jharkhand

New Delhi: The Justice M B Shah Commission has reported illegal mining worth over Rs 22,000 crore in Jharkhand, unlawful ore exports of about Rs 2,747 crore from Goa and blatant encroachment in Odisha by companies.Alleging “flagrant misuse” of rules, the commission in its report tabled in Parliament suggested cancellation of leases, recovery of lost revenue and punishing errant officials, who colluded with the miners. The Shah Commission, appointed to probe on illegal iron and manganese ore mining, allegedly found big corporates like Tata Steel, SAIL and Aditya Birla Group’s Essel Mining as well as medium and small firms Usha Martin and Rungta Mines guilty of wrongdoings and violation of rules. In Jharkhand alone, iron ores worth over Rs 22,000 crore and manganese ore valued around at Rs 138 crore were extracted “illegally and without lawful authority” by firms like SAIL, Tata Steel and others, the Commission said. The Commission in its first report on Jharkhand said 18 leases were running under deemed extension without having environment approvals and 22 were carrying mining in violation of norms. It also said there is a difference of 53.41 million of iron ore production in the figures of Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) and state government data. The “mineral value of such difference of quantity of ore comes to about Rs 8,685 crore”, which might have been sold to the nearby illegally operated crusher holders. The second report on Odisha showed companies such as Tata Steel and Essel Mining carrying out mining operations beyond the leased areas. —PTI

Published Date:  Aug 05,