Srikant Jena’s letter to Naveen Patnaik asking the state to take over the mines instead of leasing them; Is Jena sincere or is it just a political ploy
MINES and MINERALS, Odisha govt. action, Odisha govt. Inaction May 8th. 2011, 3:08pmFollowing is the letter.
I have several questions and doubts:
- Is it possible under the central govt. policies on mines that the state can take over the mines?
- What about the mines for which lease have been already granted? For example, the various leases that Tata Steel has? Can the state just unilaterally terminate the leases and take over the mines. I don’t think so. See http://mines.nic.in/faq.html.
I think Mr. Jena, if he is really sincere, should elaborate on how the state can take over the mines. Otherwise, he is just playing politics.
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May 10th, 2011 at 10:16 am
Yes it is possible to natinalize mineral resources, however it can only be done at the central government level much like the same way Banks or Airlines were done in 70’s. State alone won’t be able to do such nationalization as such acts are bound to be challenged at Supreme Court which is the highest court in the country.
However there seems to merit in the argument as the natural resources like coal, Uranium, Gold, Petrol, Gas are all done in the same way. It is just that Minerals like Iron, Bauxite are not done this way ( why i can’t answer). But given the competition it should be done. For Large Projects Govt agencies like OMC should be part of it, while just minig lease without any industries is not making any sense. Instead they are just exploiting small industries and Ore value in the international market to their advantage.