Illegal Mining: Odisha govt issues notice to 152 leaseholders

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Government, on Monday, issued notice to as many as 152 mining leaseholders for engaging in illegal mining and not abiding by environment clearance norms.

Among the 152 leaseholders, 47 in the Koida Mining Circle (KMC) in Sundargarh were also issued notice, to pay penalty to the State for not complying with the environment related guidelines.

As per the issued notice, the leaseholders are required to pay the fine by December 31.

The State government has issued the notice as per the judgement of the Supreme Court directing the State to impose a 100 per cent penalty on illegal mining leaseholders and analyse legal aspects of the order to finalise the amount.

Also Read: Illegal mining: Odisha expects to collect Rs 20,000 crore as penalty

Earlier, BJP had alleged that the state government created confusion by mentioning Rs 17,576 crore penalty instead of Rs 59,000 crore fine it was supposed to collect from 146 lessees as per its statement before the apex court.