Centre asks States to submit quarterly report on illegal mining

Bangalore, Apr 7 (UNI) The Centre has asked the State Governments to furnish quarterly reports in the prescribed format on illegal mining and action taken thereof to the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) for a periodic review.

In a letter written to Union Minister of State for Planning M V Rajasekharan, Mines Minister Sis Ram Ola said IBM had also been taking independent action such as carrying out regular inspection of mines and had found out 2,110 violations during the year up to December last. Of these, 1,107 violations were rectified, 20 cases were prosecuted and 21 cases were compounded. Besides, suspension of mining operations were ordered in respect of four iron ore mines -- three in Bellary and one in Tumkur, he explained.

He said the Karnataka Government had reported, in the last quarter, that it had detected 1,076 cases of illegal mining of major and minor minerals involving an area of 142.15 hectares. First Information Reports had been filed in 83 cases and a penalty of Rs 139.7 lakh imposed.

Mr Ola said the Mines Ministry had also launched a three pronged action strategy to curb the menace of illegal mining by constituting task forces and flying squads at the State and district levels for taking effective action.

The Minister's reply came in the form of a response to Mr Rajasekharan, who had forwarded a letter written by documentary film producers Maya Jaideep and K G Vasuki with regard to their documentary titled 'Heat in Dust', highlighting various issues such as air pollution, child labour and indiscriminate mining in Bellary district.

UNI