Authorities in Odisha halted operations at six mines at six mines of Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd after the mining company failed to obtain further environmental clearances.

Deepak Kumar Mohanty, director of mines at Odisha, confirmed on Sunday authorities closed operations in Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd's Lajkuara open-cast project's six mines at Brajrajnagar, Jharsuguda district, for failure to obtain renewed environmental clearances.

It may be noted here that Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd is a subsidiary of state-run Coal India, which accounts for 66 per cent of India's thermal power generation in the country.

Announcing the closure, Mr. Mohanty said, "The six coal mines under MCL were halted as they do not have forest clearances Operations at these sites will remain shut until they get approval."

Mr. Mohanty also claimed that the company has already applied for environmental clearance and the process would be expedited to ensure the recommencement of operations at the mines.

The closure notice for halt of mining operations was issued by the deputy director of Mines Sambalpur.

Earlier, authorities had ordered Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd to stop mining operations in its Ib Valley area, though operators of the miners later managed to gain a temporary reprieve from the court.