BHUBANESWAR: Reiterating his demand for a review in the mineral policy, Union Minister State for Chemicals and Fertiliser Srikant Jena on Saturday demanded CBI probe into the mining scam. ‘The illegal mining which today have become an inter-state phenomenon needs to be curbed effectively. I believe that the whole issue should be handed over to CBI for an impartial inquiry,’ he said in a letter to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. One of the key factors of low level of income from royalty on minerals is illegal mining and evasion of taxes which need to be curbed to save the State from colossal revenue loss, he said. Emphasising the need for better regulation of the mineral resources of the State in the wake of the recent development in Karnataka, the Union Minister said that illegal mining which was an inter-state phenomenon needed to be curbed effectively. The annual royalty receipts in Orissa was meagre in comparison to the enormous mining industry in the State, he said and demanded that the trend needs to be reversed. The long-term supply contracts like the one between the OMC and the Vedanta for bauxite ore need to be reviewed and cancelled forthwith in the larger interest of the State, the letter said. The raw material supplies should be made available to industry only at market linked price. In the long run, steps are required to be taken for State control of mining resources, which will not only rectify the above anomaly but will also protect environment by way of proper mining and planned industrialisation, Srikant said. Provision of raw material for the POSCO project also needs to be settled clearly in a transparent manner preferably with a market linked price mechanism before land acquisition and other issues relating to the project, he said.
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