Emerging reports suggest that the Odisha government has served notices to more than one hundred iron ore mining lease holders, asking them to pay Rs. 67,900 crore for their alleged involvement in illegal and excessive mining.

An official in the Odisha government's steel & mines ministry revealed that a total of 103 iron ore mining companies, including Tata Steel Ltd and Essel Mining & Industries Ltd, had been served notices for violating statutory clearances and mining excess ore.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the official said Tata Steel alone had been asked to pay a fine of nearly Rs 6,000 crore for illegal and excess mining of ore from its captive mines in the state.

The official added that the state government decided to take action after the Indian Bureau of Mines, which had been earlier given the list of the concerned ore mining lease holders, did nothing.

Tata Steel admitted that it has received a notice from the government, but claimed that it did nothing wrong. A representative for the company also claimed that the company had always undertaken mining in all states, including Odisha, with strict conformity with the rules and regulations.

Aditya Birla Group's Essel Mining & Industries Ltd declined to comment on the report, while the state's director of mines D. K. Mohanty said he could not comment on the report immediately.