Panel for updating mining law, move to save PSUs from fines

BHUBANESWAR: A high-level committee of secretaries has recommended amending a section of mining laws that led to a fine of about Rs 19,000 crore levied on Odisha’s iron ore miners to spare a similar burden on state-owned companies and other miners elsewhere.

The committee – chaired by Niti Aayog vice chairman Rajiv Kumar and consisting of the cabinet secretary and secretaries of mines, steel, coal, revenue and finance – has concluded that if the reasoning applied to penalise mines in Odisha was applied to others, it would lead to “huge financial burdens on mining companies, including PSUs and would adversely impact their economic viability”.