Bhubaneswar, Feb. 8: Odisha government today asked the Centre not to give extension further to mining leases completing 50 years.

Attending the first meeting of the governing council of Niti Aayog in New Delhi today, chief minister Naveen Patnaik expressed his disappointment with some provisions of the recent Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act ordinance.

He questioned the provision of deemed extension under Section 8A that restricts the number of leases coming up for auction during the next five years. He suggested that no further extension be given to leases that have completed 50 years and desired that all these be settled afresh through auction in a transparent manner.

Highlighting the pollution load due to coal mining and washing of coal and extraction of other minerals, Naveen demanded that a green tax be imposed to compensate the state for environmental degradation caused by mining.

The chief minister, who assured the Narendra Modi of his government's active collaboration in implementing central schemes of national priority such as Make in India and smart cities, urged the Centre to provide greater flexibility to the states to design and implement programmes suited to their specific needs within the broad development objectives set at the national level.

Expressing his concerns at the "arbitrary cuts" being effected under the existing central schemes such as the accelerated irrigation benefit programme (AIBP) and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, Naveen said this would result in incomplete projects and time and cost overruns.

He pointed out that non-availability of funds for irrigation, rural roads and railway projects was retarding the progress of various infrastructure projects in the state.

He drew the attention of the Prime Minister to the fact that the railway route length and rail density in Odisha continues to be below the national average.

He demanded enhanced provisions for all the ongoing railway projects to ensure their completion in the next three years and sanction of new tracks for profitable projects and uncovered areas.

Mentioning that both the Vishakhapatnam-Chennai industrial corridor and the eastern india Amritsar-Kolkata corridor have bypassed Odisha, the chief minister expressed his hope that the Centre would correct this oversight and extend Vishakhapatnam-Chennai corridor till Balasore, at the earliest.