BHUBANESWAR: The Directorate of Mines has served demand notice of Rs 2,056 crore to Sarada Mines Pvt Ltd (SMPL), the lease holder of Thakurani iron ore block in Joda mining circle of Keonjhar district, for carrying out mining operations without environment clearance (EC) and production of minerals in excess of the EC capacity.
The company, which had got a big relief from Delhi High Court in September 2020 in the illegal mining case, has been asked to pay Rs 2056.38 crore compensation under Section 21 (5) of MMDR Act, 1957 for the monthly excess production on pro-rata basis.
The Directorate had issued show cause notices to the company on October 6, 2020 and January 7, 2021 for the excess production. In response to the notices, the company had submitted a reply on January 25.
Finding the reply not satisfactory, the Directorate issued the demand notice. The company has been directed to make the payment of the compensation through online.
Thakurani block of SMPL was a supplier of iron ore to Jindal Steel and Power Ltd. Sarada Mines had moved to Delhi High Court in September last year immediately after the Centre asked the State government to stop mining operation at Thakurani iron ore block and initiate action against the lease holder for violation of Environment Protection Act, 1986. A day after the order of the Ministry of Forest and Environment to Odisha, the Delhi High Court stayed the order.