Illegal mining: Process to confiscate defaulters’ property begins

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Bhubaneswar: Acting on the directive of the Supreme Court, the State government Sunday began the process to attach the properties of mine owners, who failed to pay the penalty for illegal mining activities.
Sundergarh and Keonjhar district administrations have already served notices to the defaulting mining lessees in their districts. They have been directed to appear in their respective Collector’s courts afor hearing Earlier, the Mines Department secretary had written to the district Collectors to initiate actions against the defaulters and confiscate their properties under the Odisha Public Demands Recovery (OPDR) Act. The secretary had also asked for formation of a task force to calculate the properties of the defaulting miners .
Twelve leaseholders of 16 mines in Sundergarh district have not paid penalty to the tune of `709 crore, whereas `6,300 crore is due from 23 lessees of 31 mines in Keonjhar district.
“A notice has been served to the defaulters to appear before the Collector’s court for hearing. Recovery of penalties would be decided on the basis of the hearings. If a lessee refuses to pay the penalty, we will either issue warrants against them or attach their property,” Surendra Kumar Meena, Sundergarh Collector, said.
Mines Minister Prafulla Mallick said Collectors have been asked to recover the penalty dues from the defaulters. If a lessee doesn’t pay, his/her property will be confiscated as per the directive of the apex court.
Meanwhile, the Eastern Zone Mine Owners’ Association general secretary Prabodh Mohanty said, “We would seek some more time to pay the dues. The association would request the state government not to take any coercive measure.”