(a) whether illegal mining has caused huge losses to the national treasury;
(b) if so, the details thereof and the reaction of the Government thereto;
(c) whether the State Governments have been given the right to enact laws to prevent illegal mining; and
(d) if so, the details thereof along with the details of the State Governments which have enacted laws in this regard so far?
THE MINISTER OF MINES, COAL AND PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS
(SHRI PRALHAD JOSHI)
(a) to (d): As per section 23C of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 (“MMDR Act 1957”), State Governments are empowered to make rules for prevention of illegal mining, transportation and storage of minerals for both major and minor minerals and for purposes connected therewith. Therefore, information regarding the cases of illegal mining is not maintained centrally. However, based on the information received from the State Governments in the quarterly returns on illegal mining submitted to Indian Bureau of Mines (a subordinate office under the Ministry), year-wise details of cases of illegal mining detected and action taken by State Governments are given in Annexure.
As per information provided by Indian Bureau of Mines, 21 State Governments namely, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhatisgarh Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Kerala, Telengana, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand & West Bengal have framed the rules to curb illegal mining under section 23C of the MMDR Act, 1957.
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ANNEXURE-PQ 2823
Year wise cases of Illegal Mining for both Major & Minor Minerals and action taken
Illegal mining cases Action taken from 2013-14 to 2018-19
S.
No State 2013 –14 2014 – 15 2015 – 16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 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 7644 32 19 440 38064.695
3 Assam 0 0 0 n. r. n. r. n. r. 0 0 0 0
4 Chhattisgarh 3994 4953 5862 4794 4857 5060 2 29477 1138 4743.754
5 Goa 1 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 1 0
6 Gujarat 5447 5716 6499 8325 7827 7679 542 48 29627 30979.080
7 Haryana 4548 5333 3912 1345 1391 1380 988 0 0 4318.352
8 Himachal Pradesh n.r. n. r. n. r. 783 1753 590 0 410 4 69.771
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 3132 3810 975 8847 3933.925
11 Karnataka 8509 8464 9185 5692 4669 4101 3692 906 12132 14296.615
12 Kerala 4448 4172 3701 4861 8315 7797 0 0 0 14980.600
13 Madhya Pradesh 6725 8173 13627 13880 15205 16405 542 52803 3005 152108.531
14 Maharashtra 36476 32717 33621 31173 26628 13436 4462 1 174051 44863.330
15 Mizoram 21 26 n. r. n. r. n. r. n. r. 1 0 0 1.537
16 Odisha 76 104 62 45 47 29 2 4 83 1750.327
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 17118 4400 75 299927 20208.558
19 Sikkim 0 0 0 n. r. n. r. n. r. 0 0 0 0
20 Tamilnadu 1078 205 58 87 132 113 31461 48 68924 22997.992
21 Telangana - 3311 6538 5839 6143 6553 0 0 4 7198.900
22 Uttar Pradesh 8718 10024 11575 5737 20214 24455 1239 4862 0 21010.100
23 West Bengal n.r. n. r. 575 n. r. n. r. n. r. 575 0 218 0
Grand Total 91587 96684 110476 97047 116198 115492 51749 89628 599886 381541.963
n. r. – quarterly return not received