The Indian government has set up a Group of Ministers (GoM) to examine every aspect of re-opening of iron ore mines in western coastal state of Odisha, a government official said on Monday, July 15.
The official said that the GoM would comprise ministers of agriculture, home, finance, mining, commerce, law and petroleum.
The Minister of Home Affairs, Amit Shah would head the GoM and the highest level policy making body would seek to explore all avenues to reopen the 88 iron ore mines closed down since March 2018 following an order of the Supreme Court, the official added.
He said that the initiative of the central government followed representation made by the Goa government seeking intervention of the federal government since the issues involved order of the apex court and provisions related to the central law like the Mines, Minerals Development and Regulation Act (MMDRA) 2015.
Last year, the Supreme Court in a ruling maintained that renewal of mining lease of the 88 iron ore mines was illegal as MMDRA stipulated that all expired mining lease would have to mandatorily be allocated afresh by holding auctions.