Keonjhar: The Odisha government has decided to confiscate the properties of six mines against whom there are charges of illegal mining and violation of environmental laws.
The Keonjhar collector Ashish Thakre has directed the local police and tehsildar to confiscate within a month the movable and immovable assets of six mining lease holders under the provisiosn of Odisha Public Demands Recovery(OPDR) Act, 1962.
The six mining lease holders facing the charges are BD Patnaik, BK Mohanty, BPME, SD Sharma, Basudev Agrawal and Narayani & Sons. The miners had failed in paying the penalties levied on them for the illegal mining and violation of environmental nomrs.
The supreme court, on the basis of the report of Justice MB Shah Commission, had issued a directive to collect penalty of Rs 6,350 crore from 23 leaseholders of 31 mines in the district. In this regard, a certificate case was filed in the Keonjhar district magistrate court on May 24, 2018 for confiscation of properties of the defaulting miners.
