Indicts Naveen Govt for failure to protect Baitarani
Operations of top steel and mining companies, including Tata Steel, SAIl, Aditya Birla Group’s Essel Mining, JSPl and Sarda Mines, are expected to get affected if the recommendation by the Justice MB Shah Commission to ban mining along the Baitarani river in Odisha is accepted.
The commission has recommended revisiting the environment approvals granted to all the 55 mines around the Baitarani river and its tributaries. “Till then, mines may be kept closed,” it has said, suggesting modification of the environmental approvals of the mines by an expert panel.
The commission has said a definite decision should be taken on whether to allow large-scale mining leases to operate in the catchment area of the river. About 40 firms and mining lease holders operate 55 mining leases that directly impact the Baitarani river.
Tata Steel, which procures 80 per cent of its iron ore requirements from Odisha, has eight mines, including manganese ore, in the State. Of these, five mines, Khandhbandh, Joda East, Joda West, Manmora and Malda, directly affect the river.
Sourcing of iron ore for Tata Steel’s upcoming 6-million-tonne mill at Kalinganagar, slated for commissioning in the next financial year, is also dependent on these mines.
SAIl’s Bolani iron ore mine, the Aditya Birla group’s Jilling longalota and Kasia iron ore mines, Jindal Steel & Power’s Tantra Raikela Bandhal and Adhunik Metaliks’ Kulum may also face closure.
The Serajuddin & Co’s Balda block, Sarda Mines’ Thakurani-B block, RP Sao’s Guali, State-owned Odisha Mining Corporation’s three mines and one each of BPMEl and OMDC are parts of the list.
The “unscientific, non-sustainable and explosive mining” of iron and manganese ores has a lasting, very high impact on the “very existence and life of the Baitarani river” and its tributaries, rivulets and nallas, the commission has stated.
Indicting the Naveen Patnaik Government for its failure to protect the Baitarani river, the commission has said, “No effective measures have been taken to mitigate all such problems arising out of heavy mining in the
area since four decades in general and last decade in particular.”
“The widespread ecosystem (in and around the river) is restricted and changed into pieces,” it has said. The commission indicted the State Government machinery for its failure to contain illegal mining and recommended recovery of over `59,203 crore “as early as possible” from the miners against “excess and unlawful” production of iron and manganese ores.
The 365-km-long Baitarni, one of six major rivers in Odisha and considered holy, has its major catchment area in two districts, Keonjhar and Sundargarh, where most of the mining leases in the State are located. The river has 65 tributaries.
The commission has said, “On perusal of approved environmental clearances given by the Environment Ministry, it is observed that the information inputs of rivulets, water courses and rivers in and around mines are either incomplete or suppressed or false.”
Moreover, the networking of water channels and small nullas originating from hilltops and heavily forested slopes are now “completely shattered due to large mining pits, dumps, roads and other mining activities,” it has observed. This has directly affected agriculture and minor forest produces, which are the basic livelihoods of tribals, it has added.
The commission has said, “River water is also polluted and it gets colour of the minerals due to discharge of effluent water. It is apparent that environmental laws are not implemented effectively and polluting mining companies are not punished at all.”
During the rainy season, according to the commission, the river gets “highly polluted, muddy and turbid with unchecked flowing of salt generated from waste dump” out of 176 leases located in the two districts. The high content of iron, manganese and other heavy metal generated from dumps of mines flowing through rivers are highly detrimental to aquatic fauna in the estuaries and the Bay of Bengal.