Rajya Sabha
Cases of illegal mining are detected predominantly in the eastern region, mainly in the States of Jharkhand, covering BCCL, CCL and ECL, and West Bengal, covering ECL and BCCL.
The main reasons for illegal mining activities are densely populated coal bearing areas and adverse socio-economic conditions.
Illegal mining takes place stealthily and clandestinely both inside and outside leasehold areas of CIL subsidiaries. As such it is not possible to quantify the exact amount of coal, which was extracted illegally during last three years. However, the quantity of coal seized from illegally worked-out patches during last three years is given below :
| Company | Quantity Seized (Tonnes) | ||
| 2003-04 | 2004-05 | 2005-06 | |
| Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL) | 2625.00 | 1331.97 | 2481.00 |
| Bharat Coking Coal Limited (BCCL ) | 363.00 | 120.50 | 639.31 |
| Central Coalfields Limited (CCL) | 128.00 | 428.00 | 532.50 |
| Northern Coalfields Limited (NCL) | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Western Coalfields Limited (WCL) | 74.00 | 144.00 | 26.50 |
| South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL) | 43.00 | 955.65 | 42.50 |
| Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| North Eastern Coalfields Limited (NECL) | 0.00 | 600.00 | 0.00 |
| Total | 3233.00 | 3580.12 | 3721.81 |
A Committee under the Chairmanship of Minister of State for Coal has been constituted to look into the issues related to illegal mining of coal. The Committee has held two meetings so far with the representatives of Govt. of Jharkhand, Govt. of West Bengal, Coal India Limited and its subsidiaries.
a
In addition, the following steps are taken by coal companies to prevent illegal mining :
i) Rat holes created by illegal mining are being dozed off and filled up with stone and debris wherever possible.
ii) Concrete walls have been created on the mouth of the abandoned mines to prevent access and illegal activities in these areas.
iii) Fencing is being constructed at the various illegal mining sites along with displaying of signboards mentioning “Dangerous and Prohibited Place”.
iv) Dumping of the overburden is being done on the outcrop zones which are not required to be mined.
v) Collection of intelligence reports about illegal coal depots and illegal movement of coal and informing district authorities of the same for taking preventive action.
vi) Installation of check-posts at vulnerable points to check transport documents.
vii) Training of existing security personnel, refresher training of CISF personnel and basic training of new recruits in security discipline for strengthening the security setup.
viii) The coal companies maintain close liaison with the State authorities.
This information was given by Dr. Dasari Narayana Rao, the Minister of State for Coal in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.
RCJ/ls