BHUBANESWAR:The Directorate of Geology of the Steel and Mines Department has come under flak from the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) for its failure to optimise exploration of the vast mineral resources of the State.While rapping the State-owned Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) for keeping a large number of mineral blocks inoperative for more than 30 years, the Central audit agency said the State Government failed to take up projects programmed for exploration on time. Exploration works were discontinued in identified areas where possibility of mineral occurrences appear bright.
“There was no significant increase in mineral reserve due to inadequate and slow pace of exploration. The annual increase of mineral reserve ranged from 0.80 to 7.27 per cent in the last four financial years from April 2012 to March 2016. The expenditure of Rs 77.53 crore on salary and establishment included in the cost of exploration during this period was not fully justified,” said the audit report on revenue sector ending March 2017 tabled in the Assembly recently.
Though the Directorate of Geology was engaged in exploration of 16 major and minor minerals, the mineral reserve of the State during this period increased from 77,421 million tonnes to 89,208 million tonnes.
The field season for investigation and exploration of mineral is from November to March. Each project in-charge has to submit the final report by end of October every year. The directorate took up investigation/exploration of 33 projects during 2014-15 and 2016-17. However, final report of 25 projects were not submitted till June 2017. Of the eight final reports submitted, seven were submitted with a delay of two to 20 months, it said.
What is more galling is that 22 final reports for project where exploration activities were taken up prior to 2014-15 had not been submitted. “Non-submission of reports as planned hampered further process of planning for exploratory works, including higher level of exploration for auction process,” the CAG report said.
In its reply, the State Government said the observation of the CAG has been viewed seriously and steps were taken for early submission of final reports.The audit report further pointed out that the exploration activities were hampered due to large scale vacancies in the Directorate of Geology. The overall vacancy position in the directorate ranged from 26 to 100 per cent.
Observations
Rs 77.53 crore spent on salary and establishment was included in cost of exploration
89,208 MT mineral reserve of the State during the period
There was no significant increase in mineral reserve due to inadequate and slow pace of exploration