Lok Sabha Question No. 960 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-02-08
Subject: Mining Authority for Illegal Mining
Ministry: MINES
Asked by: DARSHANA VIKRAM JARDOSH

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF MINES

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.960 TO BE ANSWERED ON 08.02.2018

## MINING AUTHORITY FOR ILLEGAL MINING

## 960. SHRIMATI DARSHANA VIKRAM JARDOSH:

Will the Minister of MINES be pleased to state:

- (a)  whether the Government proposes to constitute a Mining Authority and if so, the details thereof and the time by which it is likely to start functioning;
- (b)  the States where Special Task Force is probing cases of illegal mining along with the remedial action taken by the Government in this regard; and
- (c)  whether the Government is serious to stop illegal mining and prepared for severe punishment to culprits of such mining and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

THE MINISTER OF  STATE FOR  MINES  (SHRI HARIBHAI PARTHIBHAI CHAUDHARY)

- (a): No, Madam. At present, there is no proposal in the Ministry for constituting a Mining Authority.
- (b): As per section 23C of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) (MMDR) Act 1957, State Governments are empowered to frame rules for  preventing  illegal  mining,  transportation  and  storage  of  minerals  and  for  the purposes connected therewith.

Till  now,  22  State  Government  namely  Andhra  Pradesh,  Assam,  Bihar, Chhattisgarh,  Goa,  Gujarat,  Haryana,  Himachal  Pradesh,  Jharkhand,  Karnataka, Madhya  Pradesh,  Maharashtra,  Manipur,  Mizoram,  Nagaland,  Odisha,  Punjab, Rajasthan,  Tamil  Nadu,  Uttar  Pradesh,  Uttarakhand  and  West  Bengal,  have constituted the Task Force for prevention of illegal mining both at state and district level.

Based on the quarterly returns on illegal mining submitted by various State Governments to Indian Bureau of Mines (a subordinate office under the Ministry of Mines), state-wise details of instances of illegal mining reported for the last three years  alongwith  the  details  of  action  taken  against  the  offenders  is  given  at Annexure.

(c): To check illegal  mining  in  the  country,  the  Central  Government  has,  interalia, taken the following steps:

- (i) The MMDR Act, 1957 was amended with effect from 12th January, 2015 to bring in stringent enhanced  punitive provisions under section 21 for combating  illegal  mining.  Illegal  mining  has  been  made  punishable  with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years and with fine which may extend to five lakh rupees per hectare of the illegally mined area.
- (ii) The Central Government has amended Rule 45 of the Mineral Conservation and Development Rules, (MCDR), 2017, making it mandatory for all miners, traders, stockiest, exporters and end-users to register with IBM.
- (iii)  The Ministry of Mines, through IBM in association with the Bhaskaracharya Institute  of  Space  Application  &  Geo-Informatics  (BISAG),  has  developed and launched the Mining Surveillance System (MSS) for major minerals to enhance the mechanism of detecting illegal mining with the use of satellite based  technology.  Under  the  MSS,  the  lease  areas  are  superimposed  on Satellite  imagery  and  excavation  activities  within  500m  buffer  zone  are monitored.  If  any  excavation  within  this  buffer  zone  is  observed,  then  the same is flagged off as trigger and sent to respective State Governments for its field verification. States have also been advised to explore the application of MSS for minor minerals. In the initial phase, 296 such triggers have been generated across the country and sent to the respective State Governments for  the  field  verification  of  these  triggers.  Out  of  the  296  triggers,  the respective  State  Governments  verified  286  triggers.  Out  of  these  286 triggers, in 48 cases, unauthorized mining has been detected/ confirmed.

*****

## Annexure

## Statement showing Year wise State wise Cases of Illegal Mining for Major & Minor Minerals

| Illegal mining cases   | Illegal mining cases   | Illegal mining cases   | Illegal mining cases   | Illegal mining cases   | Illegal mining cases   | Illegal mining cases                            | Action taken from 2013-14 to 2017-18 (Up to Quarter ending Sept. - 2017)   | Action taken from 2013-14 to 2017-18 (Up to Quarter ending Sept. - 2017)   | Action taken from 2013-14 to 2017-18 (Up to Quarter ending Sept. - 2017)   | Action taken from 2013-14 to 2017-18 (Up to Quarter ending Sept. - 2017)   |
|------------------------|------------------------|------------------------|------------------------|------------------------|------------------------|-------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Sr. No.                | State                  | 2013 - 14              | 2014 - 15              | 2015 - 16              | 2016 - 17              | 2017-18 (Cum. up to Quarter ending Sept.- 2017) | FIR Lodged (Nos.)                                                          | Court Cases Filed (Nos.)                                                   | Vehicle Seized (No.)                                                       | Fine realized by State Govt. (Rs. Lakh)                                    |
| 1                      | Andhra Pradesh         | 7692                   | 9379                   | 9953                   | 9703                   | 4063                                            | 3                                                                          | 12                                                                         | 3                                                                          | 14323.275                                                                  |
| 2                      | Chhattisgarh           | 3994                   | 4953                   | 5862                   | 4794                   | 2227                                            | 2                                                                          | 21787                                                                      | 1138                                                                       | 3338.376                                                                   |
| 3                      | Goa                    | 1                      | 0                      | 2                      | 0                      | 0                                               | 1                                                                          | 0                                                                          | 1                                                                          | 0                                                                          |
| 4                      | Gujarat                | 5447                   | 5716                   | 6499                   | 8325                   | 4586                                            | 382                                                                        | 29                                                                         | 20715                                                                      | 15667.05                                                                   |
| 5                      | Haryana                | 4548                   | 5333                   | 3912                   | 1345                   | 527                                             | 654                                                                        | 0                                                                          | 0                                                                          | 3765.03                                                                    |
| 6                      | Jharkhand              | 901                    | 1162                   | 1645                   | 694                    | 204                                             | 2335                                                                       | 343                                                                        | 3048                                                                       | 389.74                                                                     |
| 7                      | Karnataka              | 8509                   | 8464                   | 9185                   | 5692                   | 2830                                            | 1798                                                                       | 468                                                                        | 11497                                                                      | 11163.03                                                                   |
| 8                      | Kerala                 | 4448                   | 4172                   | 3701                   | 4861                   | 3017                                            | 0                                                                          | 0                                                                          | 0                                                                          | 8054.73                                                                    |
| 9                      | Madhya Pradesh         | 6725                   | 8173                   | 13627                  | 13880                  | 7854                                            | 516                                                                        | 41299                                                                      | 2978                                                                       | 113206.21                                                                  |
| 10                     | Maharashtra            | 36476                  | 32717                  | 33621                  | 31173                  | 10797                                           | 794                                                                        | 1                                                                          | 144784                                                                     | 28178.52                                                                   |
| 11                     | Mizoram                | 21                     | 26                     | n. r.                  | n. r.                  | n. r.                                           | 1                                                                          | 0                                                                          | 0                                                                          | 1.537                                                                      |
| 12                     | Odisha                 | 76                     | 104                    | 62                     | 45                     | 25                                              | 0                                                                          | 4                                                                          | 77                                                                         | 1111.407                                                                   |
| 13                     | Rajasthan              | 2953                   | 2945                   | 3661                   | 3945                   | 2025                                            | 2536                                                                       | 37                                                                         | 11248                                                                      | 6794.672                                                                   |
| 14                     | Tamilnadu              | 1078                   | 205                    | 58                     | 56                     | n. r                                            | 10734                                                                      | 1                                                                          | 35166                                                                      | 12285.82                                                                   |
| 15                     | Telangana              | -                      | 3311                   | 6538                   | 5839                   | 3203                                            | 0                                                                          | 0                                                                          | 4                                                                          | 5314.43                                                                    |
| 16                     | Uttar Pradesh          | 8718                   | 10024                  | 11575                  | 5737                   | n. r.                                           | 562                                                                        | 439                                                                        | 0                                                                          | 9333.57                                                                    |
| 17                     | West Bengal            | n. r.                  | n. r.                  | 575                    | n. r.                  | n. r.                                           | 1132                                                                       | 0                                                                          | 218                                                                        | 0                                                                          |
| Grand Total            | Grand Total            | 91587                  | 96684                  | 110476                 | 96089                  | 41358                                           | 21450                                                                      | 64420                                                                      | 230877                                                                     | 232927.397                                                                 |

n. r.* (not reported by the State Government)