Despite lockdown, mining operations continue, scaled down by COVID-19 fears
BHUBANESWAR: While the 21-day lockdown has brought life to a standstill in most parts of the country, mining and transportation of ore continued in Odisha’s mineral belts.
In an order dated March 24 by the state’s Naveen Patnaik government, production, supply and distribution of coal, power, steel and fertiliser, operations of mines — iron ore, coking coal, thermal coal, limestone, dolomite, manganese and chromite — as well as running of ferro alloy and pellet plants (which supply raw material to steel plants) were termed “essential services” and exempted from the shutdown.
