Bhubaneswar: Bhubaneswar Lok Sabha Member Aparajita Sarangi today targeted Odisha Government alleging massive Manganese mining irregularities in the State.

Citing Ministry of Mines' letter dated April 6, Sarangi, who is the BJP's National Spokesperson, alleged that there is a nexus between Odisha Government and mine traders.

"Thousands of crores of rupees are being lost from the state exchequer. The state government is putting pressure on the mine owners to appoint specific contractors and specific transport companies. As a result, special arbitrary rules are being introduced for transportation of products at low cost," she said.

"The Centre has written to Odisha Government thrice on this alleged irregularities in Manganese mining management. However, the state government is yet to bring an SOP for mines. Last time, the state government had issued a demand notice after iron ore mining scam came to fore. The attempts were made to loot thousands of crores of money through unethical means. The state government itself has looted money by showing low quality iron ore. Similarly, chromite and manganese are also being sold through unethical way, the BJP leader said.

Briefing a presser here today, she said that the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) decides the average sale price for Manganese mines. Manganese ore containing less than 25 percent manganese metal is called low grade. If kept less than 25 percent, the price will be Rs 2896 per tonne. But, the high grade quality is being converted into low quality by showing average sale price for which huge loss being incurred to the state exchequer.

Earlier, the IBM had informed the Ministry of Mines that some mining lease holders of Manganese ore in Odisha were dispatching Manganese ore allegedly as low grade from their mines located in Odisha to the traders operating from West Bengal who sell it as high-grade ore without any processing.

The parliamentarian said that the Ministry of Mines had highlighted the under-reporting of grades of iron ore vide a letter dated August 31, 2022 and under-reporting of grades of chromite ore and manganese ore vide letter dated November 11, 2022. Through the said letters, the Centre had requested to the State to develop SOPs for preventing loss of revenue due to declaration of higher grade as low grades. The state government was also requested to start investigation by an authorised agency under section 18A of the Act for obtaining information on available grades of ores in the leases.

The Ministry of Mines through its letter dated April 6 had urged the state government to investigate to ascertain any nexus between traders and the lessee of Siljora Kalimati Iron and Manganese Ore mines and take appropriate action as per law to prevent any possible loss of revenue to the state exchequer.