(a) whether the Government has taken cognizance of illegal mining of minerals especially sand in various States of the country during the last three years and the current year;
(b) if so, the details thereof, State/ location-wise;
(c) whether the Government has taken/is taking any steps to stop such illegal mining and if so, the details thereof; and
(d) whether the Government has constituted any high powered committee to check the illegal mining and if so, the details thereof?
THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR MINES
(SHRI HARIBHAI PARTHIBHAI CHAUDHARY)
(a)to(c): Sand is a minor mineral, as defined under section 3(e) of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 (MMDR Act). Section 15 of the MMDR Act completely devolves upon the State Governments for making rules for regulation of the grant of quarry leases, mining leases or other mineral concessions in respect of minor minerals and for purposes connected therewith. Further, as per section 23C of the MMDR Act, 1957, State Governments have complete powers to make rules for preventing illegal mining, transportation and storage of minerals and for the purposes connected therewith in the State. Therefore, the administration of mining of minor minerals including sand is a subject that is completely within the domain of the respective State Governments.
However, based on the information received from the State Governments in the quarterly returns on illegal mining submitted to Indian Bureau of Mines, details of instances of illegal mining for both major and minor minerals including sand reported for the last three years along with the details of action taken against the offenders is at Annexure.
To strengthen the States in curbing the illegal Mining, the Central Government, inter-alia, has taken the following measures:
(i) The MMDR Act, 1957 was amended with effect from 12.01.2015, which has made the penalty and punishment provisions for illegal mining very stringent. 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 have been made for setting up of Special Courts for the purpose of providing speedy trial of offences relating to illegal mining.
(ii) The Rule 45 of Mineral Conservation and Development Rules has been amended to provide for the mining companies to provide periodic reports on the production, trade and utilization of minerals to the State Government and IBM on daily / monthly /yearly basis for a proper end-to-end accounting of minerals diminishing the scope for illegal mining, royalty evasion, etc.
(iii) The Ministry of Mines, through IBM has developed the Mining Surveillance System (MSS), to use space technology for facilitating State Governments in curbing illegal mining activities in the country. MSS is a satellite-based monitoring system which aims to establish a regime of responsive mineral administration, through public participation, by facilitating State Governments in curbing instances of illegal mining.
(iv) In the meeting of mining minister on 04th May, 2017, the States raised several issues of sand mining in regard to environmental degradation, non-availability of sand, high sand prices, illegalities in sand mining, etc. To address this issue, a committee chaired by the Union Secretary, Ministry of Mines also comprising of officials of State Governments had been constituted to study the existing system of sand mining in various states and to submit a report. A ‘Sand Mining Framework’ has been prepared and circulated to the States. The ‘Sand Mining Framework’ is a compilation of best practices and is suggestive in nature for consideration of adoption by States while framing their rules and administrative setup, as per their objectives, endowments and state deployment of resources.
(d): No, Madam.
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Annexure
Number of Illegal mining cases for major and minor minerals Action taken from 2013-14 to 2017-18 (Up to Quarter ending December – 2017)
Sr.
No. State 2013 –14
2014 – 15
2015 – 16
2016-17
2017-18
(Quarter ending December – 2017) FIR Lodged (Nos.) Court Cases
Filed
(Nos.) Vehicle
Seized
(No.) Fine realized by
State Govt.
(Rs. Lakh)
1 Andhra Pradesh 7692 9379 9953 9703 6269 22 12 9 15047.738
2 Chhattisgarh 3994 4953 5862 4794 3427 2 22987 1138 4004.317
3 Goa 1 0 2 0 0 1 0 1 0
4 Gujarat 5447 5716 6499 8325 6069 394 29 21963 17080.11
5 Haryana 4548 5333 3912 1345 923 656 0 0 3876.213
6 Himachal Pradesh n.r. n. r. n. r. 783 1753 0 331 4 63.166
7 Jammu & Kashmir n.r. n. r. n. r. n. r. 1485 0 0 1485 15.896
8 Jharkhand 901 1162 1645 838 1573 2939 481 4396 542.65
9 Karnataka 8509 8464 9185 5692 4020 1888 468 11597 11649.30
10 Kerala 4448 4172 3701 4861 5721 0 0 0 9204.43
11 Madhya Pradesh 6725 8173 13627 13880 11619 516 42942 2978 115077.685
12 Maharashtra 36476 32717 33621 31173 18974 1329 1 163758 31058.05
13 Mizoram 21 26 n. r. n. r. n. r. 1 0 0 1.537
14 Odisha 76 104 62 45 36 0 4 79 1181.292
15 Rajasthan 2953 2945 3661 3945 3622 2584 41 11695 7772.346
16 Tamilnadu 1078 205 58 87 48 15297 16 45905 15477.082
17 Telangana - 3311 6538 5839 4593 0 0 4 5315.61
18 Uttar Pradesh 8718 10024 11575 5737 6949 1474 3889 0 10718.11
19 West Bengal n.r. n. r. 575 n. r. n. r. 1132 0 218 0
Grand Total 91587 96684 110476 97047 77081 28235 71201 265230 248085.532
n.r* (not reported by State Government)
Source: Indian Bureau of Mines