Govt to take Varied Measures to Curb Illegal Mining

As per Section 23C of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, State Governments have been empowered to frame rules to curb illegal mining, transportation, and storage of illegally mined minerals and for the purposes connected therewith. So far, 21 State Governments have framed rules under Section 23C of the MMDR Act, 1957 to curb illegal mining.Accordingly State Governments are delegated with the matters connected with illegal mining.

However, based on the quarterly returns submitted by State Governments on illegal mining to Indian Bureau of Mines (a subordinate office under administrative control of Ministry of Mines), the number of illegal mining cases identified/reported by Government of Telangana and subsequent action taken in last five years is provided at Annexure.

Ministry of Mines through Indian Bureau of Mines has developed the Mining Surveillance System (MSS) to use space technology for reporting any illegal mining activity to the concerned State Government for taking further necessary action. MSS uses time series satellite imagery data made available by the Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Technology and Geo-informatics (BISAG- N), Gandhi Nagar to detect the illegal mining activity beyond the lease boundaries.

Annexure

(The number of illegal mining cases identified/reported by Government of Telangana on the quarterly returns submitted on illegal mining to IBM)