Lok Sabha Question No. 3598 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-08-08
Subject: Satellite Driven Surveillance System
Ministry: COAL
Asked by: SUSHMITA DEV, JYOTIRADITYA MADHAVRAO SCINDIA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COAL

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.3598 TO BE ANSWERED ON 08.08.2018

## Satellite Driven Surveillance System

## 3598.   KUMARI SUSHMITA DEV: SHRI JYOTIRADITYA M. SCINDIA:

Will the Minister of COAL be pleased to state :

- (a) whether a satellite driven surveillance system has been developed to detect the illegal mining at various coalfields across the country;
- (b) if so, the details of the surveillance system;
- (c) whether  illegal  coal  mining  at  coalfields  across  the  country  has  caused  losses  to  the Government/exchequer to the tune of crores of rupees every year; and
- (d) if so, the details in this regard and the steps taken by the Government to check pilferage of coal from coalfields across the country?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, COAL, FINANCE AND CORPORATE AFFAIRS

## (SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)

(a) & (b) :  Coal Mine Surveillance and Management System (CMSMS) and 'Khanan Prahari' App have been  launched  on  4th  July  2018  to  monitor  unauthorized  coal  mining  activities.  The  Coal  Mine Surveillance & Management System (CMSMS) is a web based application which can be used to detect, monitor and take action on any kind of illegal coal mining activities being carried on within the leasehold boundaries in the coalfield areas.

Salient features of CMSMS : It uses the platform of National Centre of Geo-Informatics (NCoG), which is a Platform of Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeiTY). On this platform, Village level GIS map of India is already available which are being used for e-governance applications of various government  departments.  Coal  mining  related  information  has  been  provided  in  the  form  of  layers. Presently  the layers available  on  this  system  are-  Coalfield  Boundaries,  Boundaries  of  geological  Coal blocks (CIL and SCCL), Leasehold Boundaries and Information/report of land reclamation.

Illegal coal mining activity can be detected in 2 ways:

-  Through scanning of satellite data - This will be done at CMPDI wherein satellite data will be scanned to detect any coal mining activity which is extending outside the authorised leasehold area.
-  Through report by citizens by 'Khanan Prahari' Mobile application - Any citizen can report any illegal  coal  mining  activity  through  the  mobile  app  in  the  form  of  textual  or  geo-tagged photographs.

Reports generated through the above sources will be automatically forwarded to Nodal Officers who have been nominated by CIL/SCCL as well as various State Governments. The Nodal Officers will verify the reported activity and take action like filing a police report for taking action as per law or informing the law enforcing agencies. The action taken will also be fed into the system so that any person can see the status  of  his  complaint  though  the  complaint  tracking  system  in  the  CMSMS.  The  identity  of  the complainant shall not be revealed.

(c)&(d) : Law & Order is a State subject. It is the responsibility of the State / District administration to take necessary deterrent action against the persons involved in such unauthorised and illegal activities. As  informed  by  Coal  India  Ltd.,  it  is  not  possible  to  specify  the  exact  quantum  of  coal  on  account unauthorized coal mining activities, however, as per raids conducted by security personnel of CIL as well as joint raids with the law and order authorities of the concerned State Government, the quantity of coal recovered and its approximate value during the last three years are as under:

THEFT/PILFERAGE OF COAL- SUBSIDIARYWISE AND STATE-WISE

| Co.        | State        | 2015-16             | 2015-16             | 2016-17                  | 2016-17             | 2017-18 (Provisional)    | 2017-18 (Provisional)    |
|------------|--------------|---------------------|---------------------|--------------------------|---------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------|
| Co.        | State        | Qty. Recovered (te) | Approx. Value Lakh) | (Rs. Qty. Recovered (te) | Approx. Value Lakh) | (Rs. Qty. Recovered (te) | Approx. Value (Rs. Lakh) |
| ECL        | WB           | 4993.27             | 249.670             | 7804.76                  | 390.230             | 8667.24                  | 433.362                  |
|            | Jharkhand    | 2645.78             | 132.320             | 3500.66                  | 175.030             | 2346.53                  | 117.327                  |
|            |              | 7639.05             | 381.990             | 11305.42                 | 565.260             | 11013.77                 | 550.689                  |
| BCCL       | Jharkhand    | 12071.40            | 529.670             | 12718.85                 | 549.604             | 5093.34                  | 199.113                  |
|            | WB           | 445.84              | 20.544              | 810.44                   | 33.601              | 537.35                   | 20.198                   |
|            |              | 12517.24            | 550.214             | 13529.29                 | 583.206             | 5630.69                  | 219.311                  |
| CCL        | Jharkhand    | 99.00               | 1.050               | 147.00                   | 1.470               | 539.97                   | 15.791                   |
| NCL        | MP           | 0.00                | 0.000               | 0.00                     | 0.000               | 0.00                     | 0.000                    |
|            | UP           | 0.00                | 0.000               | 3.00                     | 0.042               | 0.00                     | 0.000                    |
|            |              | 0.00                | 0.000               | 3.00                     | 0.042               | 0.00                     | 0.000                    |
| WCL        | Maharashtra  | 53.00               | 1.120               | 225.15                   | 5.420               | 261.96                   | 7.634                    |
|            | MP           | 0.00                | 0.000               | 3.00                     | 0.180               | 0.00                     | 0.000                    |
|            |              | 53.00               | 1.120               | 228.15                   | 5.600               | 261.96                   | 7.634                    |
| SECL       | MP           | 0.00                | 0.000               | 3.50                     | 0.140               | 26.00                    | 0.570                    |
|            | Chhattisgarh | 57.50               | 2.105               | 25.00                    | 1.500               | 38.00                    | 0.770                    |
|            |              | 57.50               | 2.105               | 28.50                    | 1.640               | 64.00                    | 1.340                    |
| MCL        | Orissa       | 63.10               | 0.631               | 57.80                    | 0.380               | 92.53                    | 0.925                    |
| NEC        | Assam        | 0.00                | 0.000               | 0.00                     | 0.000               | 0.00                     | 0.000                    |
| Coal India | Coal India   | 20428.89            | 937.110             | 25296.16                 | 1157.556            | 17602.92                 | 795.690                  |

Following suitable steps are being taken by the coal companies to check such incidents :

- i. Concrete walls have been erected on the mouth of the abandoned mines to prevent access and illegal activities in these areas.
- ii. Surprise raids/checks are being conducted jointly by security personnel and law and order authorities of the concerned State Government.
- iii. Dumping of the overburden is being done on the outcrop zones.
- iv. Collection of intelligence reports about illegal coal depots and illegal movement of coal and informing district authorities of the same for taking preventive action.
- v. Installation of check-posts at vulnerable points.
- vi. Training of existing security/CISF personnel, refresher training and basic training of new recruits in security discipline for strengthening the security setup;
- vii. Maintaining close liaison with the State authorities.
- viii. Committee/task force has been constituted at different level (block level, sub-divisional level, district level, state level) in some subsidiaries of CIL to monitor different aspects of illegal mining.

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