#India – Half of Odisha’s iron ore mines lack clearance #WTFnews

Ninety-four of the 192 iron ore mining leases in Odisha do not have the mandatory environmental clearances. And of the 96 that did have them, 75 have mined far beyond their permitted levels over the past several years, the Justice M.B. Shah Commission report on illegal iron and manganese ore mining has said.

The Hindu has accessed parts of the report, which is yet to be tabled in Parliament. It is the last one from the Justice Shah Commission.

The exhaustive five-volume report lays bare how the mines have continued to use a loophole in the law for years and flagrantly violate environmental and other norms to pump out iron at a time when international prices of the metal are booming. It is to be considered by the Union Cabinet before it is tabled in the next session of Parliament.

The report says 56 mining leases operated close to identified wildlife areas without adequate protection to wildlife. The mandatory forest clearances had not been obtained in several cases. Water bodies in and around 55 mines have been polluted. Water has depleted in natural streams in some cases and forestlands impacted adversely in several. A mining project within 10 kilometre vicinity of a protected wildlife area requires mandatory clearance from the National Board of Wildlife, which too was not obtained in several cases.

The Hindu contacted the offices of Union Minister for Mines and Minerals Dinsha Patel and Union Environment and Forests Minister Veerappa Moily for comments on the report, but neither returned the calls.

The Shah Commission held both the Central government authorities and the Odisha government responsible for the blatant and wide-ranging illegal mining that have continued unchecked for years. It has recommended that the entire extraction in all cases where leases operated without mandatory environmental clearances be treated as illegal and the market value — domestic or export — recovered from defaulting miners.