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Nine iron ore merchant mining entities of Odisha have jointly committed to a Rs 100-crore development fund for Sundergarh and Keonjhar districts.
The miners made the commitment before the Shah Commission – inquiring into mining irregularities in five States including Odisha – at a special hearing on April 21.
Sources said the entities expect to gain some “relief” after the proposed CSR initiative comes into operation. The fund, aimed for “sustainable development” activity in the resource-exploited districts will be coordinated with the State Government efforts.
The contributing members of the funds include Thriveni Earth Movers Pvt Ltd, a contract miner, and mine owners, such as KJSA, Prashant Ahluwalia, Indrani Patnaik, D.R. Patnaik, Tarni Minerals, R.P. Sao and KMC.
Called Gramin Vikas Chaitanya Kendra (GVCK), the proposed trust fund, is expected to be registered shortly. Prashant Ahluwalia confirmed the development.
He said that apart for the initial corpus of Rs 100 crore, the miners have also committed five per cent of their profit after tax every year.
“Of the projects that GVCK has planned to take up include a 150-bed super speciality hospital in the Joda-Barbil area. The Rs 50-crore health initiative would also be extended to primary health centres and mobile health unit,” he said.
Education, drinking water, motorable roads linking state highways and reforestation including restoration of local flora and fauna would be part of the projects, Ahluwalia added.
The trust has also planned two colleges in the State for the under-privileged that would provide mid-day meals as well.
Sources said Chief Secretary of Odisha B.K. Patnaik was present in the special hearing.
Of the 122 merchant mines in Odisha, around 10 per cent are currently in operation. For various alleged irregularities, Odhisha Government had stopped mining.
The Shah Commission is investigating the mining activities of the State as well as those of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka and Goa since 2010.
> jayanta.mallick@thehindu.co.in
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