Bhubaneswar, March 2: The Odisha government today blamed the Centre for not extending timely help to curb illegal mining activities in the state. Deposing before the Shah Commission, the Odisha government said it was facing a lot of difficulties in its bid to streamline the mining operations as the Centre had been constantly ignoring its demand.

The Odisha government said the Centre had opposed its new rules for captive consumption of minerals.

“We are demanding that a particular mine should be given to a company for 30 years for its captive consumption, but the Centre did not agree to it. Similarly, our stand that only those mines will be renewed that are used for captive consumption was also ruled out,” said an advocate on behalf of the Odisha government.

The government accused the Centre of not honouring its demand to revise the royalty on minerals. The Odisha government said it had been demanding a ban on export of iron ore since October, 2010.

“Once the ban on export of iron ore is implemented, it will bring down the prices and help meet the requirements of the local industries,” he said. Justice Shah said that these issues should be dealt at the appropriate level with the Centre by the Odisha government.

Stating that the state exchequer incurred a huge loss because of non-revision of royalty, the state government said despite the chief minister’s plea for imposition of tax on super-normal profits made by private parties, no steps were taken by the Centre.

“While the private parties have made huge profits, the state government was unable to gain anything,” said a senior Odisha government official.

The Odisha government claimed that it had been advocating for auction of mining to private parties through competitive bidding and judicious use of minerals by applying the norms of captive mining. The government also argued for preservation of mineral reserves for future generations and pleaded that all abandoned mines should be handed over to its public sector unit Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC).

Justice Shah questioned the efficiency of the OMC and said when it was not able to operate its own mines for which it had been granted the lease, it should not demand for more mines.

The OMC, on the other hand, maintained that as it could not go ahead to mine because of various permissions required from the Central Government.

Justice Shah today admitted the appeal of the OMC for a fresh verification of mining areas of at least five out of its 21 mines. Like other lessees, the OMC has disputed the differential global positioning system technique of mapping calling it “faulty”. The OMC will bear the cost of fresh verification at the rate of Rs 4 lakh per square kilometre.

In his interaction with the media, Justice Shah said it was hard to establish political patronage in the scam. “When you do not have direct evidence, it is not proper to comment on the part of a judge,” said Justice Shah.

A group of social activists staged a demonstration outside the venue demanding action against erring government officials for their involvement in illegal mining operations.