The administration in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district has imposed a penalty of Rs 1,620.5 crore on the Nationwide Mineral Improvement Company (NMDC), a central PSU, for alleged violation of mining legal guidelines, officers mentioned on Saturday.
The NMDC has termed the transfer “utterly inappropriate” and claimed the penalty was imposed “solely and blindly with out contemplating the info and circumstances within the case”.
The NMDC has mining operations in Bailadila hills in Kirandul and the Bacheli space of Dantewada within the Bastar area.
In a letter dated August 29, Dantewada collector Mayank Chaturvedi directed the NMDC to deposit the penalty quantity inside 15 days.
The letter acknowledged that iron ore mining leases have been authorized for Deposit No. 14 ML in an space of 322.368 hectares, Deposit No. 14 NMZ in 506.742 hectares, and Deposit No. 11 in 874.924 hectares in Kirandul village beneath Bacheli tehsil of Dantewada to the NMDC.
The collector wrote that the NMDC’s clarifications to the present trigger notices issued by district administration had been unsatisfactory.
The NMDC has violated part (4)(1) of the Chhattisgarh Mineral (Mining Transportation and Storage) Guidelines, 2009, and as per Rule (5) of the Chhattisgarh Mineral (Excavation, Transportation and Storage) Guidelines, 2009 and part 21(5) of the Mines and Minerals (Improvement and Regulation) Act, 1957, a complete penalty of Rs 1,620.5 based mostly on market worth and royalty of the mineral is imposed, the letter mentioned.
When contacted about particulars in regards to the present trigger notices, Chaturvedi didn’t reply.
The NMDC, in an announcement, claimed the Dantewada collector proposed to levy penalty and compensation to the tune of Rs 1,620.5 crore for alleged transport of iron ore with out a railway transit cross (RTP), and thereby alleging contravention of the varied provisions of various mining legal guidelines.
“It’s respectfully submitted that the levy of compensation and penalty by means of impugned discover for demand of penalty and compensation solely and blindly with out contemplating the info and circumstances within the current case is totally inappropriate,” it mentioned.
The NMDC Restricted has been working with a legitimate mining lease, authorized mining plan, CTO (consent to function), CTE (consent to ascertain), and setting and forest clearances from the Union Ministry of Atmosphere Forest and Local weather Change (MoEFCC), it mentioned.
As per Rule 2, sub-rule 1 (d) of Chhattisgarh Mineral (Mining, Transportation and Storage) Rule, 2009, Kirandul Complicated, NMDC Ltd. was paying deposit, grade, and product-wise advance royalty to the state authorities by way of the khanij-online portal, and after the cost, e-permit numbers are generated, it mentioned.
For the reason that NMDC has made advance royalty cost, Kirandul Complicated has not violated mining guidelines for the alleged transport of iron ore with out RTP, it mentioned.
It additionally identified that the state authorities verifies these information each six months on the time of royalty evaluation, and it has not raised a single objection thus far, which exhibits that there was no violation.
The NMDC additional mentioned that the finalisation of iron ore grade takes time, inflicting a delay within the technology of RTP by two to a few days. This does not make any loss to the state exchequer. The NMDC will submit an appropriate reply to the district collector.
(Solely the headline and movie of this report could have been reworked by the Enterprise Customary employees; the remainder of the content material is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
First Revealed: Aug 31 2024 | 1:52 PM IST