Ranchi | Aug 23, 2017: Jharkhand High Court today pulled up the state government for failing to check illegal stone mining and not filing a comprehensive affidavit explaining its mining policy.

The division bench of Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice B.B. Mangalmurti was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) initiated suo motu on illegal mining and the disappearance of hills and hillocks owing to large-scale stone quarrying.

The bench observed that the state government seemed to be oblivious of the fact that its natural resources were being depleted. It said neither the government had a plan for proper utilisation of natural resources nor an effective mining policy.

The government counsel informed the court that it had already initiated steps to prepare a composite mining policy. "The government is studying the mining policies of other states and will draft a policy soon," he said.

Ordering the government to file the developments in drafting the policy in an affidavit, the court said the case would be heard after a fortnight.

The PIL was instituted on the basis of a 2015 newspaper report claiming that while the stone quarrying business had an annual turnover of Rs 20,000 crore, the state received a meagre Rs 81 crore as revenue.

There were about 20,000 illegal quarries and mines in the state, the report added.

(Source: https://www.telegraphindia.com/)