By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR/NEW DELLHI: Union Minister of Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs Shri Pralhad Joshi in a written reply in Rajya Sabha on Monday said that as many as 47 cases of illegal mining, both major and minor, have been reported in Odisha in between 2017 to 21 but not a single case registered in Court while 2 FIRs had been lodged.
The Minister Joshi said, 2 FIRs had been lodged against the accused firms while 17 vehicles were also seized during this period from 2017 to 21. Joshi, also said, that a fine of Rs 7,59.790 collected from these firms while the Minister Joshi added, not a single Court cases have been registered in the State during the above mentioned period.
The Minister said ,the Ministry of Mines, through Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM), has developed the Mining Surveillance System (MSS), in coordination with Bhaskaracharya Institute for Space Applications & Geo-informatics (BISAG), Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) to use space technology for curbing illegal mining activities of major minerals in the country.
The system checks upto 500 meters around the existing mining lease boundary for any excavation activity which is likely to be an incidence of illegal mining. Any excavation activity found is flagged-off as a trigger which in turn is sent to the State Government for field verification. A user-friendly mobile app for MSS has also been launched for the use of general public for raising complaint of illegal mining activities. Every complaint received through the app is forwarded to the respective State Government for taking appropriate action in the matter.
Penalty for illegal mining was made more stringent by the Central Government through amendment of the MMDR Act in 2015. The penalties have been increased from Rs 25 thousand per hectare to Rs 5 Lakh per hectare and the term of the imprisonment has been increased from 2 years to 5 years for contravention of section 4(1) and 4(1A) of the Act. Further, Section 23C of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 (MMDR Act), empowers the State Governments to frame rules to prevent illegal mining, transportation and storage of minerals and for the purposes connected therewith. Hence, control of illegal mining comes within the jurisdiction of the State Governments.
