Ahmedabad | Aug 17, 2017: The number of illegal mining instances has risen by nearly 53 per cent in the last four years in Gujarat, with 8,325 cases being registered in 2016-17 against 5,447 in 2013-14. This despite the availability of satellite imageries and mining surveillance systems.

Between April 2013-March 2017, as many as 25,987 cases of illegal mining were registered across Gujarat, according to data furnished by Piyush Goyal, MoS (Independent Charge) for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy and Mines, in a written reply in Lok Sabha earlier this month.

Quoting the “quarterly returns on illegal mining submitted by the Government of Gujarat to Indian Bureau of Mines,” the minister stated that the instances of illegal mining include both major and minor minerals.

“The Ministry of Mines has taken the initiative to adopt the use of Space Technology through Mining Surveillance System to support state governments in curbing illegal mining. Further, stringent penal provisions have been provided in the MMDR Amendment Act, 2015 for control of illegal mining,” Goyal stated in his reply.

However, the measures appear to having little impact on ground where despite a total of 25,987 cases of illegal mining clocked in the four-year period, the number of FIRs filed in this regard was just 318, and the number of court cases filed stood at 29. The state government, meanwhile, has realised Rs 131.82 crore in fines in connection with the illegal mining, stated the reply.

Roopwant Singh, the head of Commissionerate of Geology and Mining, the Government of Gujarat, told The Indian Express that the increased number of illegal mining cases was largely due to increased vigilance in the mining sector.

“Gujarat has about 7,800 mining leases of which 468 are for major minerals like limestone, lignite and bauxite that contribute to 45 per cent of the annual revenues…. In the last three years, in order to check illegal mining, we have stepped up efforts on three fronts. We have increased roadside checking. We have set up permanent check-posts on certain routes. Though cumbersome and long-drawn, we also check stocks of mined material and also do a physical check of the mined area,” said Singh.

The Gujarat government from February 1, 2016, has set up check-posts on seven stretches — Harshad-Miyani and Dwarka-Okha roads in Devbhumi Dwarka, Nasvadi road in Chotta Udepur, Kim-Kamrej road in Surat, Bagodra in Ahmedabad, Chiloda in Gandhinagar and Samakhiyali in Kutch district.

The government has also developed a mobile application — GeoMine — that helps check vehicles and on-time verification of royalty pass with barcode. It has also adapted a “special security paper A” to control printing of duplicate royalty pass and delivery challans. It has also integrated the data from the Regional Transport Office (RTO) with the existing ILMS (integrated lease management system) to check overloading of vehicles carrying minerals.

“Through e-governance measures, we have also enforced regular attendance of officials who keep an eye out on illegal mining,” said Singh, adding that the state government has been able to recover Rs 42 crore of dues from defaulters last year. State governments are empowered under Section 23C of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, to make rules and for prevention of illegal mining, transportation and storage of minerals.

Talking about the fewer number of FIRs lodged in comparison to the total number of cases, Singh said, “The FIRs are registered only when the illegal mining has happened outside the leased area or on government land. The penalty mostly imposed is the value of the mineral caught and the royalty. However, the penalties will soon be revised and will be more stringent.”

Gujarat produces 59 minerals, of which 38 are major and 21 minor minerals with sizeable reserves of limestone and lignite. According to the data tabled by the state government in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly earlier this year, the districts of Surat, Ahmedabad, Bhavnagar, Bharuch, Jamnagar, Porbandar, Panchmahal and Gandhinagar reported higher incidences of illegal mining. For instance, between December 2015 to November 2016, Surat reported a phenomenal 1,298 cases of illegal mining, followed by Gandhinagar (522 cases) and Ahmedabad (512 cases).

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