Even as the State Government aims to produce 100 metric tonnes of iron ore by the end of 2016-17, the target seems to be a distant affair as the Centre is yet to process any of environment and forest clearance proposals submitted by the State.
As the Union Government targets to produce 300 million tonnes of steel in coming three years, Odisha has set the above target to earn more revenue from the mineral sector.
However, the lethargic attitude of the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) in processing environment clearance (EC) and forest clearance (FC) proposals for iron and manganese ore mines has stood on the way, said an official of the Steel and Mines Department.
The MoEF has returned such proposals on the plea that it is conducting a carrying capacity study, and after the study is completed, the proposals would be considered.
Carrying capacity study is done to stipulate the level of production so that environment will not be affected.
But, what is intriguing is that nobody knows the timeline set for completion of the study, said an expert closely following the issue.
Due to the MoEF’s indolence, mineral sector in Odisha has been adversely impacted, and the target to produce 100 MT iron ore in 2016-17 does not seem easy, he said.
Notably, the State had produced 53.66 MT iron ore in 2014-15 and 80.87 MT in 2015-16. Another issue which has bothered the State most is imparity in sanction of compensatory afforestation between Central and State PSUs.
While Central PSUs are allowed compensatory afforestation in twice the area of degraded forest lands for diversion of forest lands for non-forest use, State PSUs are not allowed to do so.
The OMC is facing a lot of difficulties in identifying vegetation-free non-forest land for compensatory afforestation, which is directly affecting its mining operations.
Though Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has time and again approached the Prime Minister and the Union Mines Minister, it is yet to yield any result.