Date | Oct 27, 2016:
A total of 139 sand mines were awaiting environment clearance from State-level Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) and District-level Environment Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA) as on September 30, 2016 in Chhattisgarh.
The maximum number of sand mines awaiting environment clearance during the aforesaid period were in Bilaspur district at 15 followed by Balod and Durg at 12 each and Raipur and Janjgir-Champa districts at 10 each, officials informed.
Notably, the real estate developers now have to submit details of minor minerals being used for construction work in the prescribed proforma to the State Mineral Resources Department.
Moreover, the district collectors are authorised to allot mining pattas measuring upto 5,000 hectares in the State, officials stated. Earlier the collectors could allot pattas measuring upto 4,000 hectares.
The State government for the first time since its formation had enforced the Miner Minerals Rule 2015. In this regard, the State Mineral Resources Department had notified the rule in the Gazette on March 27, 2015.
It may be recalled that the Union Ministry of Mines has commenced the process for pilot launch of Mining Surveillance System (MSS) for keeping vigil on illegal mining of even minor minerals in Chhattisgarh besides two other states, officials informed.
The process is underway to launch a system for minor minerals in coalition with the State Governments. The states of Haryana, Telangana and Chhattisgarh have been selected for a pilot launch, officials informed.
Notably, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy and Mines, Piyush Goyal had launched the Mining Surveillance System (MSS) in New Delhi on Saturday last.
Notably, the Union Ministry of Mines, through Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM), has developed the MSS, in coordination with Bhaskaracharya Institute for Space Applications and Geo-informatics (BISAG), Gandhinagar and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY), to use space technology for curbing illegal mining activity in the country.
Been developed under the Digital India Programme, MSS is one of the first such surveillance systems developed in the world using space technology. The current system of monitoring of illegal mining activity is based on local complaints and unconfirmed information. There is no robust mechanism to monitor the action taken on such complaints.
Notably, the Automatic software leveraging image processing technology generates automatic triggers of unauthorized activities. These triggers will be studied at a Remote Sensing Control Centre of IBM and then transmitted to the district level mining officials for field verification.
A check for illegality in operation is conducted and reported back using a mobile app.
A user-friendly mobile app has been created which can be used by these officials to submit compliance reports of their inspections. The mobile app also aims to establish a participative monitoring system where the citizens also can use this app and report unusual mining activity.
The advantages of remote sensing technology based monitoring system are that it is Transparent (Public will be provided an access to the system); Bias-free and Independent (The system has no human interference); Deterrence Effect (‘Eyes watching from the sky’); Quicker Response and Action (The mining areas will be monitored regularly. Sensitive areas will be monitored more frequently); Effective Follow-up (action taken on triggers will be followed-up at various levels like DMG, State Mining Secretary, State Office and Headquarters Office of IBM and Ministry of Mines, GoI).
There are in total 3843 mining leases of major minerals in India. Out of which, there are 1710 working mines and 2133 non-working mines.
(Source: http://www.dailypioneer.com/)