16 Odisha Mineral Blocks to go for Auction by October

The Government of Odisha has identified a total of 16 mineral blocks for auction and the process for which would start by the end of October this year, Union Mines secretary Balwinder Singh said on Thursday.

“After the amendment of the Mines & Minerals Development Regulations Act (MMDR Act), we are requesting all states to go for auction of mineral blocks according to the amended Act. We are very happy that the Odisha government has identified 16 blocks and hopefully, by the end of October the auction will begin for those blocks”, said Singh to the media persons after a meeting with Odisha Chief Secretary GC Pati at the state secretariat premises.

Notably, the State government has recently made a high level committee chaired by Development Commissioner in order to streamline auction of major minerals across the state.

The committee is scheduled to meet for the first time on July 28.