Date | Nov 20, 2016:

The Odisha government on Saturday made it mandatory for all the mineral transporting vehicles to install GPS devices as part of its effort to further streamline the mining activities in the state, a senior official said.

“We have asked all the vehicle owners engaged in transportation of minerals to install GPS devices by December 28. This will help the administration track movement of mineral carrying vehicles from the starting point till the port or plant,” Director of Mines, Deepak Mohanty said a meeting of state-level task-force chaired by Chief Secretary A P Padhi. Once GPS devices are fitted in the vehicles, he said, one can easily locate the trucks, carrying minerals, and their route.

“This will help in checking the theft of mineral on the route between the pit head to the end point,” he said. Mohanty said the government has set the maximum limit of 75 million tonnes mineral to be explored from Joda and Koida mining areas, located in Keonjhar and Sundergarh districts respectively.

The maxium limit has been set keeping an eye on the carrying capacity of the roads and pollution level, he added. Meanwhile, the state government has also decided to fix set up machines to check air pollution in mines and also in the areas not leased out to any company.

Of the five air pollution measuring instruments, three have so far been fitted while the Odisha State Pollution Control Board will install 34 such air pollution check machines in non-lease areas, a government official said. Chief Secretary Padhi asked the district collectors and SPs of the mineral districts to ensure that no illegal mining or theft of minerals taking place from the mines or in the route.

The district level taskforce can keep watch on such aspects, he said, adding that the transport companies should not demand excess price for evacuation of mineral from the mines to ports or plants. Mohanty also informed that at least 124 mines have so far been verified through I3MS system.

(Source: http://indianexpress.com/)