Over 150 mining leases to lapse today
The mining lease approvals of more than 150 major mineral deposits of iron ore, bauxite, manganese, lime stone and dolomite are set to lapse on Wednesday due to lack of forest and environment clearances, required for execution of a lease deed.
Following repeated appeals from the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries and the mines ministry, the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) had on January 4, 2017, announced a notification waiving environment clearance for execution of a lease deed. The next day, it relaxed norms for forest clearance as well. However, there are only four official working days between the notifications and the January 11 deadline for the execution of the lease deeds. Miners have called these relaxations “too little, too late”. The miners are contemplating going to court for relief.
The amended MMDR Act, which stipulated that all mining licences for major minerals be granted through auctions, had a saving clause under Section 10A (2)(C), giving a reprieve to those mining lease (ML) applications approved by the Center or in favour of which the state governments concerned had issued letters of intent before the new Act.
The Act gave these ML applicants a deadline of January 11, 2017 (i.e. 2 years from the date of notification of an MMDR ordinance) for execution of the lease deeds with the respective state governments, after fulfilment of the conditions prescribed in the ML approval/letters of intent.
The most important condition for signing of a lease deed is obtaining environment clearance (EC) and forest clearance (FC). But sources said more than 150 applications were pending for environment clearance (65 cases) and forest clearance (67 cases), restricting the miners from executing lease deeds.
EC and FC approvals can take six or seven years to come. “In this context, giving only two years in the Act for fulfilment of all conditions for signing a lease deed is unfair,” said a miner.
“Even if someone gets EC and FC approvals under the new norms, he has to approach the state government concerned for an order for mining lease execution, calculation and submission of stamp duty, etc, which at the fastest of pace would take at least four weeks,” said the miner.
China pledges further cuts in excess steel, coal production
China’s top economic planner pledged Tuesday to continue cutting steel and coal production that have been a source of trade friction with many countries. China reached targets for cuts last year, Xu Shaoshi, chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, said, adding that millions of steel and coal workers have been transferred to other jobs.
Other industries such as cement and glass are also “actively” cutting capacity, Xu said. China’s trade partners blame the country for dumping excess steel, coal, cement and glass on world markets. President-elect Donald Trump has engaged in a war of words with Beijing, accusing China of unfair trade practices and threatening punishing tariffs.
Chinese leaders say they are working to solve excess capacity but acknowledge the impact on state workers. China’s economy is estimated to have grown roughly 6.7 percent last year, Xu said. Inflation rose 2 percent last year, the National Bureau of Statistics reported Tuesday, expanding faster than in 2015, when it rose 1.4 percent.
Charges framed in another coal block case
A Special court here on Tuesday framed charges against Himachal EMTA Power Ltd (HEPL) and three others in a coal block allocation scam case.
Special Judge Bharat Parashar framed the charges against HEPL, its directors Ujjal Kumar Upadhaya and Bikash Mukherjee and senior executive N.C. Chakraborty.
court said prima facie there was evidence which suggested that the accused committed the offences of criminal conspiracy and cheating.
Status misrepresented
CBI had chargesheeted only HEPL, Upadhaya and Mukherjee in the case but the Judge said “though CBI has not chargesheeted N.C. Chakraborty, but I do not find myself in agreement with the said conclusion drawn by CBI.”
CBI has alleged that HEPL had grossly misrepresented its status not only in its application form but also in the feedback form submitted on June 22, 2007 and in the information supplied by Chakraborty to the West Bengal government.
It further alleged that Upadhaya and Mukherjee had deliberately conspired with HEPL.
They had submitted false information to the Ministry of Coal to secure allocation of Gourangdih ABC coal block in West Bengal in its favour.
Joint venture
Messrs Eastern Minerals and Trading Agency Ltd (EMTA) had entered into a joint venture with Himachal Power Corporation Ltd to establish a power project in West Bengal, and the company was named Messrs Himachal EMTA Power Ltd (HEPL).
HEPL its its January 10, 2007 application had applied for allotment of Gourangdih ABC coal block, the investigating agency said.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/Charges-framed-in-another-coal-block-case/article17019326.ece
CIL informs Parliamentary Panel: SECL facing challenges due to land acquisition delays, slow green clearances
The SECL is operating 86 mines -- 62 of them are underground, 23 are open cast and one is of mixed category.
Coal India’s largest subsidiary — the South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL) — has told a Parliamentary panel that it is facing major challenges due to delay in land acquisition, obtaining forest clearances and environment clearances.
The SECL told the Parliamentary Standing Committee on steel and coal that one of the major challenges being faced by the company is “delay in acquisition of land, evacuation of sites and its possession due to cumbersome takeover process, improper land records, rehabilitation and resettlement of affected families.”
The SECL also informed the committee, when it last met on December 29 last year, that several of its new projects such as Jagannathpur open cast mine, Rampur Batura open cast mine and Ketki underground mine “could not be started this year due to (delay in) environment clearances and forest clearances.” The company added that it has “applied for environment clearance enhancement of Dipka and Gevra projects, which have not been granted till date.”
The SECL is operating 86 mines — 62 of them are underground, 23 are open cast and one is of mixed category. Out of 86 mines, 52 mines are situated in Chhattisgarh, while the remaining are in Madhya Pradesh.
One of the committee members then asked the steps that are being taken by the company to overcome aforementioned challenges. In response, the SECL stated that it is involved in “regular persuasion with villagers and state authorities” to reduce the time taken in land acquisition. Moreover, the company noted that it is following up closely “with the concerned authorities” to deal with the delay in getting green clearances.
Two other challenges that were listed by SECL in front of the Standing Committee were “marketing of high grade coal from underground mines” and “coal evacuation from Mand-Raigarh coalfield”. To overcome these, the company said it is indulged in “rationalisation of coal price” and “revision of grades of coal have been/being done”. In order to deal with coal evacuation problem, the SECL mentioned that the “establishment of two rail corridors, namely East Corridors and East-West rail corridors is under progress”, will supplement “infrastructure for coal evacuation.”
In 2015-16, the gross sales of company were of Rs 24,900 crore – it produced 137.93 million tonnes (MT) of coal in 2015-16, accounting for over 25.60 per cent of total coal production of Coal India.
Another member of the committee asked about the constraints for the SECL in stepping up its production capacity “to the level of projected coal demand during 12th five year plan and beyond.” The 12th five year plan had estimated that the Coal India would have a coal production of 615 million tonnes by the end of 2016-17. In front of committee, the SECL reiterated the issues related to delay in getting green clearances and in land acquisition process. However, it said that “economic unviability of future underground projects” is one of the other constraints.
One other major constraint listed by the company is “requirement of additional land for depillaring in existing underground mines, to comply with recent DGMS (Directorate General of Mines Safety) guidelines.” Depillaring is about removal of pillars to create a safe environment in an underground coal mine by devising an artificial support system using roof bolting system, cable bolts, truss system etc.
The SECL was also asked if it has large deposits of coal in some of the reserve forests that are in its command area. The company replied: “Yes, there are large deposits of coal in some of the reserve forest in the command area of SECL, namely in the coalfields of Sonhat, Korba, Bisrampur, Mand-Raigarh, Sohagpur and Umaria.” The company added that various open-cast mines have been planned in these forest areas like Pelma, Kartali East, Madannagar, Malachua, Amritdhara etc.
Coal ministry orders probe into Lalmatia mishap
Coal minister Piyush Goyal on Tuesday constituted a high-power committee to probe the Lalmatia colliery collapse after he was approached by Godda MP Nishikant Dubey in this regard.
"The coal minister has constituted a high power committee to conduct a wider probe into the accident at Lalmatia colliery in Godda after the DGMS gave a clean chit to ECL," Dubey said, adding that he would be accompanying the team to Lalmatia on January 15.
Goyal's move came after Directorate General of Mines Safety gave a clean chit to Eastern Coalfields (ECL) on the accident. Dubey has been holding the ECL authorities and the outsourcing company responsible ever since the incident took place. The DGMS as well as the Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Dhanbad, said they had already probed the instances of violation of safety norms.
"DGMS had earlier too inspected the Lalmatia colliery on many occasions before the fateful incident on December 29 which resulted in death of several workers. How can it now blame the ECL and the outsourcing company for violation of safety norms?" Dubey said, adding that the investigation by the committee, constituted by the coal minister, will submit its report directly to the ministry.
Though five persons still remain missing, Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL) authorities on Mondaycalled off the rescue operation.
"The rescue operation has been halted due to technical reasons. If the rescue operation is continued, there are chances of accidents as there is strata movement on top of the mine," said ECL General Manager (Mining) R.R. Amitabh.
He said, "There are at least five bodies trapped inside the caved-in mine. The rescue operation will be re-started soon."
MCL coal miners take pledge to achieve zero accident level
Coal miners at Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL), a flagship subsidiary of Coal India Limited, on Tuesday took a mine safety pledge to attain ‘zero accident level’ in mining operations during year 2017. As administered by Mr A K Jha, Chairman and Managing Director, MCL employees took a pledge to do ‘’everything possible to achieve zero harm potential and will not do anything willfully or negligently, which may endanger myself and any of my colleagues working in the mine or damage any property of the mine and surroundings’’. In his address, Mr Jha emphasised on a need of safety consciousness not on at the workplace, but also in daily life. The CMD also declared open Annual Mine Safety Fortnight-2017 during which all the projects and operational areas will be assessed on safety parameters. Mr L N Mishra, Director (Personnel), Mr Munawar Khursheed, IRPF, Chief Vigilance Officer and Mr O P Singh, Director (Technical/Projects & Planning) were prominent among General Managers, Heads of various departments, Executives and Staff of company present at main inaugural function of Annual Mine Safety Fortnight-2017 was organised at MCL HQs here. A two-minute silence prayer was offered for departed souls in a accident of Lalmatia mine in Rajmahal Area under sister subsidiary Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL). Earlier in the day, a Safety Awareness March was organised wherein employee of MCL and their families participated. The programme was conducted by Mr S. Roy Choudhury, General Manager (S&R), MCL.
http://orissadiary.com/CurrentNews.asp?id=71705#sthash.KAXd9t5v.dpuf
Tamil Nadu joins UDAY scheme
After long opposition to the Centre's debt restructuring scheme for discoms, Tamil Nadu on Monday joined the Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojna (Uday) scheme under which it stands to benefit by Rs 11,000 crore through savings in interest cost and on power distribution and transmission losses, an official statement here said. By signing the Uday agreement, the state government agreed to take over 75 per cent debt of Rs 30,420 crore of its distribution company Tangedco, a Union Power Ministry statement said.
"The scheme provides for the balance debt to be re-priced or issues as state guaranteed discom bonds at coupon rates around 3-4 per cent less than the average existing interest rate," it added.
Read more at: http://www.oneindia.com/india/tamil-nadu-joins-uday-scheme-2313060.html
Warm Regards
Anurag Singal
Sr Manager –Business Development
Essel Mining & Industries Ltd
14th Floor, Industry House
10,Camac Street –Kol-71
Ph: 033-30518415,9088026252
The information contained in this electronic communication is intended solely for the individual(s) or entity to which it is addressed. It may contain proprietary, confidential and/or legally privileged information. Any review, retransmission, dissemination, printing, copying or other use of, or taking any action in reliance on the contents of this information by person(s) or entities other than the intended recipient is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us by responding to this email or telephone and immediately and permanently delete all copies of this message and any attachments from your system(s). The contents of this message do not necessarily represent the views or policies of Aditya Birla Group. Computer viruses can be transmitted via email. Aditya Birla Group Companies attempts to sweep e-mails and attachments for viruses, it does not guarantee that either are virus free. The recipient should check this email and any attachments for the presence of viruses. Aditya Birla Group does not accept any liability for any damage sustained as a result of viruses.
No comments:
Post a Comment