New Delhi: Following on the heels of the Supreme Court order to suspend production of 26 iron-ore producing mines in Odisha, the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) set up by the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) has recommended revocation of Stage 1 clearance for two more iron ore producing mines run by SAIL and the Odisha Mining Corporation Ltd (OMCL).
FAC has accused the Bolani iron ore mining project of SAIL in Keojhar district and the Kalarangi chromite mining project of the OMCL in Jajpur district of not following the principle of compensatory afforestation which is the fulcrum on which stage 1 approval is given. The Bolani mining project received approval for 465 of forestland diversion way back in 1999 but so far no compensatory afforestation has taken place in 304 of non-forest land.
The Odisha government wrote in 2009 claiming they could not do afforestation because the land identified for it had been encroached upon and therefore they required an extension. Despite the ministry acceding to their request, little has changed on the ground. The story is repeated with the OMCL which received stage 1 clearance in 2000 but have done no work in the area of compensatory afforestation. In fact, this has been the bane of most mining projects in the past.
The FAC members also complain that both the companies have been carrying out mining activities illegally without valid approvals. The problem becomes complex as the Bolani mining lease expired 12 years ago but mining has continued.
