Question : Cases of Illegal Mining

(a) the number of cases of illegal mining for both major and minor minerals registered in the country during the last four years along with the action taken thereon, State/UT-wise;

(b) the names of the mining companies and their promoters/principal shareholders on which penalty has been imposed for illegal mining;

(c) the details of steps taken to stop illegal mining in the country;

(d) whether the Government proposes to constitute a Mining Authority and if so, the details thereof and the time by which it is likely to become functional; and

(e) the details of States in which Special Task Force is probing cases of illegal mining and the details of the remedial actions taken by the Government in this regard?

THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR MINES AND COAL
(SHRI HARIBHAI PARTHIBHAI CHAUDHARY)

(a)to(e) As per Section 23C of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation), 1957 (MMDR Act, 1957), State Governments have been empowered to frame rules for preventing illegal mining, transportation and storage of minerals for the purposes connected therewith. Therefore, prevention and control of illegal mining comes under the legislative and administrative jurisdiction of State Governments.
However, based on the quarterly returns on illegal mining submitted by various State Governments to Indian Bureau of Mines, a subordinate office under the Ministry of Mines, state-wise details of instances of illegal mining reported for the last four years along with the details of action taken against the offenders/criminals is given in Annexure.





For controlling illegal mining in the country, the Central Government has, inter-alia, taken the following measures:

(i) The MMDR Act, 1957 contains, inter alia, punitive provisions for combating illegal mining which were made more stringent by amendment in 2015. Illegal mining has been made punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years and with fine which may extend to five lakh rupees per hectare of the area. Provisions for setting up of Special Courts for the purpose of providing speedy trial of offences relating to illegal mining are also in the Act.

(ii) Rule 45 of the Mineral Conservation and Development Rules, (MCDR) 2017, also makes it mandatory for all miners, traders, stockists, exporters and end-users of minerals to register and report on the production, trade and utilization of minerals to the State Government(s) and Indian Bureau of Mines.
(iii) The Ministry of Mines through Indian Bureau of Mines in association with the Bhaskaracharya Institute of Space Applications & Geo-Informatics (BISAG), Gujarat has developed and launched a ‘Mining Surveillance System’ (MSS) for major minerals to enhance the mechanism of detecting illegal mining with the use of satellite based technology.
(iv) Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM), has entered into a MoU with National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Hyderabad on 21.01.2016 for a pilot project “SudoorDrishti” to demonstrate the feasibility of using High Resolution Satellite imagery and Digital Elevation Model (DEM) in monitoring mining activities / changes over a period of time over selected group of mines.
(v) 22 State Governments have constituted the Task Force namely, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal. The function of the Task force is to review the action taken by member departments for checking the illegal mining activities in their respective jurisdiction.

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Annexure

Statement showing Year wise State wise Cases of Illegal Mining for Major & Minor Minerals.

Illegal mining cases Action taken from 2013-14 to 2018-19 (Quarter ending June 2018)
Sr.
No. State *2013 –14 *2014 – 15 *2015 – 16 2016-17 2017-18


2018-19
(Quarter ending June 2018) FIR Lodged (Nos.) Court Cases
Filed
(Nos.) Vehicle
Seized
(No.) Fine realized by
State Govt.
(Rs. Lakh)
1 Andaman & Nicobar n.r. n. r. n. r. n. r. n. r. n. r. n. r. n. r. n. r. n. r.
2 Andhra Pradesh 7692 9379 9953 9703 8128 1670 29 17 296 19248.145
3 Assam 0 0 0 n. r. n. r. 0 0 0 0
4 Chhattisgarh 3994 4953 5862 4794 4857 1245 2 25662 1138 4070.734
5 Goa 1 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 1 0
6 Gujarat 5447 5716 6499 8325 7827 1709 444 38 24776 22261.96
7 Haryana 4548 5333 3912 1345 1391 n. r. 776 0 0 3989.202
8 Himachal Pradesh n.r. n. r. n. r. 783 1753 n. r. 0 331 4 63.193
9 Jammu & Kashmir n.r. n. r. n. r. n. r. 1485 n. r. 0 0 1485 15.896
10 Jharkhand 901 1162 1645 838 2772 824 3340 652 6611 2170.685
11 Karnataka 8509 8464 9185 5692 4669 1083 2423 552 11792 12543.497
12 Kerala 4448 4172 3701 4861 8315 1593 0 0 0 11728.73
13 Madhya Pradesh 6725 8173 13627 13880 15205 3914 541 46923 2978 128849.091
14 Maharashtra 36476 32717 33621 31173 26628 2751 2228 1 163366 36502.33
15 Mizoram 21 26 n. r. n. r. n. r. n. r. 1 0 0 1.537
16 Odisha 76 104 62 45 47 6 2 4 82 1575.878
17 Punjab n.r. n. r. n. r. n. r. n. r. n. r. n. r n. r n. r n. r
18 Rajasthan 2953 2945 3661 3945 6632 3941 2954 58 18329 11423.357
19 Sikkim 0 0 0 n. r. n. r. n. r. 0 0 0 0
20 Tamilnadu 1078 205 58 87 132 59 23481 38 59760 19371.224
21 Telangana - 3311 6538 5839 6143 1550 0 0 4 6507.79
22 Uttar Pradesh 8718 10024 11575 5737 20214 n. r. 1239 4862 0 13349.68
23 West Bengal n.r. n. r. 575 n. r. n. r. n. r. 1132 0 218 0
Grand Total 91587 96684 110476 97047 116198 20345 38593 79138 290840 293672.929

n. r. – quarterly return not received.