Odisha govt to invite fresh bids for 20 working mines

Bhubaneswar: The state government has cancelled the notification issued for auction of 20 working mines, lease of which is expiring on March 31, 2020.

It has decided to issue fresh notification for the blocks with some new conditions.

The government had issued notification for auction of the 20 working mines in three phases in October.

The decision to cancel the notification has been taken after meetings of the technical evaluation committee and the high-level committee held on November 30.

The steel and mines department had floated global tenders in three phases in October 2019 for auction of the mines as per the Mines & Minerals Development Amendment Act 2015.

Now, the government will invite fresh tenders for the 20 mines on December 6, 2019. The last date for the receipt of the application will be January 3, 2020. The lease period of these mines coming to an end on March 31, 2020.

The auction of the remaining 20 mines will be held later.