Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi today held discussions with Union Minister for Coal and Mines G. Kishan Reddy at Lok Seva Bhavan and sought the cooperation of the Central Government to strengthen Odisha's mineral sector and further increase state's contribution to the national economy.
In the discussion, the Chief Minister said that the importance of Odisha in the country's mineral economy and industrial growth is constantly increasing. In the financial year 2025-26, about 471 million tonnes of minerals were produced in Odisha, and a revenue of about Rs 46 thousand crore was collected from this. However, he said that the Central Government's active cooperation is needed to further accelerate the growth of Odisha in this area.
Majhi sought the cooperation of the Central Government to expedite the forest and environmental clearances of the mineral blocks that have been auctioned in Odisha. He also asked for the allocation of the Shashubohumali bauxite block and the Thakurani iron ore block to the OMC.
The Chief Minister said that accelerated development of railway and port areas is necessary to make mining and transportation more efficient and cost-effective. The Chief Minister suggested preparing a suitable framework for re-filling abandoned coal mines through fly ash for environmental protection. He also drew the attention of the Union Minister to provide modern technology for advanced analysis of minerals.
Union Minister Reddy said that cooperation of various departments like Railways, Ports, Forest and Environment is required to solve various problems in the mining sector. Therefore, he proposed to resolve all the issues through a high-level meeting of all the ministries and the state government.
The meeting also discussed the development of the mining area and the welfare of the local people. For this, Prime Minister Narendra Modi suggested implementing all the schemes in a saturation mode. Therefore, the meeting emphasized the importance of implementing all the schemes of the state and central governments as well as DMF funds and CSR funds of companies in an integrated approach in the mining areas to achieve saturation. For this, a scheme called C.M. Sampada has been prepared in Odisha.
The meeting discussed various problems and solutions of various central mining PSUs. In this, senior officials of Mahanadi Coalfields Limited, Neyveli Lignite Corporation, Singareni Collieries Company Limited, NALCO, Indian Bureau of Mines etc. participated and discussed various issues.