Exerting pressure on illegal mines owners, the state government has stopped mining activites at 69 iron ore and manganese mines following detection of illegal mining by the task force constituted under the chairmanship of chief secretary, TK Mishra. The mines are located in Joda, Koida, Rourkela and Keonjhar areas of the state.
The government is soon going to stop work on some more mines, said state steel & mines and industries minister, Raghunath Mohanty.
Following the exposure of the mining scam involving hundreds of crores of rupees by the state vigilance, the state steel & mines department has constituted a task force to detect the mines where illegal operations are going on.
The vigilance police raided seven mines and unearthed illegal mining, violation of environment and forest act, tax evasion, royalty evasion and illegal trading and transportation of minerals.
“We have already registered four criminal cases and have arrested nine officials, out of which eight are officials of mining and forest department,” said director, vigilance, Anup Patnaik.
