Sudarsan Maharana
Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, May 5: A day after the state government warned miners that it kept all options open if they failed to pay revised stamp duty and sign supplementary lease deeds to extend their lease, the latter Tuesday agreed to sign fresh pacts and pay the stamp duty.
“The mine owners have agreed to sign the supplementary lease deeds and will pay the stamp duty,” mines director Deepak Mohanty said.
He said “Ten mining lease holders from Sundargarh belt executed their lease deeds today whereas several others from Joda circle will be signing the pact tomorrow.” President of eastern India mine owners association RL Mohanty said, “The mine owners have no objection to pay the stamp duty and to execute lease agreements.”
With several mining firms reluctant to go for supplementary lease deeds before restarting their mines protesting 7 per cent stamp duty, steel and mines minister Prafulla Kumar Mallik told the media that the state government would look for “alternative steps” if companies failed to make fresh agreements within 90 days.
Recently, the state government, accepting the recommendations of an inter-departmental committee, had decided to grant lease extension to 29 mines including 26 iron ore and manganese mines which had remained closed following a Supreme Court verdict in May 2014.
The government will now grant lease extensions to these mines as per the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 2015 which allowed operation of the non-captive mines till 2020 and captive mines till 2030 as per sections 8(A) 5 and 8(A) 6.
The meeting also discussed facilitating supply of raw materials to 49 industries with whom the state government has signed MoUs and several other industries operating in the state without MoUs, the mines director informed.
The state cabinet last week decided to supply iron ore up to 70 per cent to industries within the state through the state-owned OMC. “The government has assured us to make relaxation in pricing once the production of iron ore begins,” the mining association president said.
