Dikhyaa Mohanty 
The unlawful movement of manganese ore is causing enormous revenue losses in Odisha, according to the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM). The IBM notified the Ministry of Steel and Mines that the owners of mining leases in Odisha were shipping low-grade manganese ore from their mines to dealers based in West Bengal, who then marketed it as high-grade without further processing. The Siljora Kalimati iron and manganese ore mines were a topic that the bureau looked at. The Ministry has informed the Odisha Government about the underreporting of chromite and manganese ore grades in November 2022.It had advised the State Government to create a Standard Operating Procedure to avoid revenue loss caused by the classification of higher-quality ores as lower grade.
In a letter dated April 6 to the State Government, the Ministry stated that “under-reporting of mineral grades is a serious issue and causes loss to State exchequer by way of lower collection of various payments such as auction premium, royalty, district mineral foundation funds, and national mineral foundation trust.” The Ministry stated, “State Governments are entitled to create laws for combating unlawful mining, transportation, and storage of minerals under Section 23C of the MMDR Act. The State Governments are in charge of determining the right grade of mineral being sent and adjusting action premium, royalty, and other payments based on that grade.
96.12% of the nation’s chrome ore, 51.15 percent of India’s bauxite reserves, 33.61% of hematite iron ore, and 43.64% of manganese are all found in the mineral-rich state of Odisha. The Naveen Patnaik administration had previously faced criticism from the opposition, which claimed that there had been serious irregularities in the mineral sector that had resulted in enormous losses and that officials in positions of authority and politicians had accepted corrupt payments from the mining industry. The M. B. Shah Commission, which looked into the matter, produced a report in which it estimated that there were 59,000 crore worth of irregularities.
The investigation conducted by the IBM clearly shows that there is a loss of thousands of crore to the State exchequer by purposefully downgrading the quality of ore being produced in many of the auctioned mines, Bhubaneswar Member of Parliament Aparajita Sarangi said during a press conference here. Without the assistance of the State Government and its apparatus, this is impossible.
“The low-grade manganese ore for the Siljora Kalimati Iron and Manganese Ore Mines varied from a low of 4.86% to a maximum of 40% before auction. However, during the past two years, this has increased to 98% and 96%, respectively. The State exchequer has suffered a significant loss as a result of the ore’s reduction in grade, Ms. Sarangi noted.
The State Government appears to have turned a blind eye to the widespread corruption in iron ore, chrome ore, and manganese mining, according to the BJP MP, despite repeated efforts on the part of the Ministry of Mines. The downgrading of the ore has not resulted in the development of any standard operating procedures to stop future theft of this nature. The State Government has provided the mine owners a window of opportunity by raising a demand and enabling them to get a stay order from the High Court or the Mines Tribunal rather than taking action to terminate the lease.
