Bhubaneswar | Jan 27, 2015: With the ongoing debate in Odisha on the recent promulgation of mining ordinance by the Centre, a one-day orientation workshop would be held in the capital city tomorrow to have a threadbare discussion on its implications.

Mining officials and mines stakeholders scheduled to participate in the workshop would be apprised of the provisions of the ordinance in detail.

Among other issues, the demands of the state government and the mine owners’ association are expected to figure at the workshop, sources said.

The workshop would be attended by the joint secretary, Union Mines ministry Naresh Kumar and state Mines secretary Raj Kumar Sharma.

The workshop will have two sessions.

In the first session, the state mining officials would be thoroughly apprised of the proposed amendment in the mining ordinance to remove their apprehensions in this regard.

“We had a recent meeting with the senior officials of the Mines ministry in this regard. They agreed to our request to have a thorough discussion with state Mining officials and assured us to formulate rules accordingly keeping the interest of the state in mind,” said state Mines minister Prafulla Mallick.

Mining companies and mines stakeholders in the state would take part in the second session of the workshop.

The ordinance has extended the transitional period for captive and non-captive mines to 2030 and 2020 respectively.

Reliable sources said that the Eastern Zone Mines Owners’ Association would place its demand to fix the transitional period for both captive and non-captive mines till 2030.

Like the captive mines, the Association would also demand the provision of ‘Right to First Refusal’ for non-captive mines, a provision which has not been incorporated in the mining ordinance. In other words, the Association would demand this provision be extended to the leaseholder of the non-captive mines at the time of auction.

Apart from this, the workshop would also discuss the demands raised by the Odisha government at the meeting of the state Mines ministers in New Delhi on January 19, the sources added.

(Source: http://odishasuntimes.com/)