THE MINISTER OF MINES (SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR)
(a) to(d): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 144 REGARDING ILLEGAL MINING RAISED BY SHRI VIKRAM USENDI AND SHRI HARIOM SINGH RATHORE, HON’BLE MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT FOR REPLY ON 28.12.2017.
(a) & (b): As per section 23C of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 (MMDR Act), State Governments have complete powers to make rules for prevention of illegal mining for both major and minor minerals and for purposes connected therewith.
Sand is a minor mineral, as defined under section 3(e) of MMDR Act, 1957. Further, section 15 of the MMDR Act empowers 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. Therefore, the administration of mining of minor minerals is completely within the domain of the respective 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 three years alongwith the details of action taken against the offenders is given at Annexure.
(c) : For controlling illegal mining in the country, the Central Government has, inter-alia, taken the following steps:
(i) The MMDR Act, 1957 was amended with effect from 12th January, 2015 to bring in stringent enhanced punitive provisions under the Section 21 for combating illegal mining. 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 illegally mined area.
(ii) The Central Government has amended Rule 45 of the Mineral Conservation and Development Rules, (MCDR), 2017, making it mandatory for all miners, traders, stockiest, exporters and end-users to register with IBM.
(iii) The Ministry of Mines, through IBM in association with the Bhaskaracharya Institute of Space Application & Geo-Informatics (BISAG), has developed and launched the Mining Surveillance System (MSS) for major minerals to enhance the mechanism of detecting illegal mining with the use of satellite based technology. Under the MSS, the lease areas are superimposed on Satellite imagery and excavation activities within 500m buffer zone are monitored. If any excavation within this buffer zone is observed, then the same is flagged off as trigger and sent to respective State Governments for its field verification. The ministry has organized training programmes for the officials of the State Governments for adopting the MSS. States have also been advised to explore the application of MSS for minor minerals. In the initial phase, 296 such triggers have been generated across the country and sent to the respective State Governments for the field verification of these triggers. Out of the 296 triggers, the respective State Governments verified 286 triggers. Out of these 286 triggers, in 48 cases, unauthorized mining has been detected / confirmed.
(d) : No, madam.
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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 2017-18 (Up to Quarter ending Sept. – 2017)
Sr.
No. State 2013 –14 2014 – 15 2015 – 16 2016 -17 2017-18 (Cum. up to Quarter ending Sept.– 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 4063 3 12 3 14323.275
2 Chhattisgarh 3994 4953 5862 4794 2227 2 21787 1138 3338.376
3 Goa 1 0 2 0 0 1 0 1 0
4 Gujarat 5447 5716 6499 8325 4586 382 29 20715 15667.05
5 Haryana 4548 5333 3912 1345 527 654 0 0 3765.03
6 Jharkhand 901 1162 1645 694 204 2335 343 3048 389.74
7 Karnataka 8509 8464 9185 5692 2830 1798 468 11497 11163.03
8 Kerala 4448 4172 3701 4861 3017 0 0 0 8054.73
9 Madhya Pradesh 6725 8173 13627 13880 7854 516 41299 2978 113206.21
10 Maharashtra 36476 32717 33621 31173 10797 794 1 144784 28178.52
11 Mizoram 21 26 n. r. n. r. n. r. 1 0 0 1.537
12 Odisha 76 104 62 45 25 0 4 77 1111.407
13
Rajasthan 2953 2945 3661 3945 2025 2536 37 11248 6794.672
14 Tamilnadu 1078 205 58 56 n. r 10734 1 35166 12285.82
15 Telangana - 3311 6538 5839 3203 0 0 4 5314.43
16 Uttar Pradesh 8718 10024 11575 5737 n. r. 562 439 0 9333.57
17 West Bengal n. r. n. r. 575 n. r. n. r. 1132 0 218 0
Grand Total 91587 96684 110476 96089 41358 21450 64420 230877 232927.397
n. r.* (not reported by the State Government)
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