Police registers 466 cases against illegal mining

Police has registered 466 cases and arrested 1,495 people in connection with illegal mining from different mining sectors in the past four months.

As many as 349 persons have been charge sheeted while 562 vehicles were seized for involvement in illegal mining activities.

Taken together, the state and district level task forces have seized 256,519 tonnes of iron ore and 9,520 tonnes of manganese during this period, said an official source familiar with the development.

It has been decided at the meeting of the State Level task force on mining chaired by the Chief Secretary B K Patnaik that all lessees and licensees will have to register themselves with the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) by January 15 failing which e-permits would not be issued.

“We will soon issue e-permits to the lessees and licensees. Our focus is on system improvement and strengthening coordination among different departments. The two private ports-Gangavaram and Kakinada- have started sharing information with us on mineral ore exports. The state government has disposed some applications of renewal of mining leases (RML) and we are looking to expedite pending cases,” Patnaik told reporters.

Sources said, the issue of e-permits to the Joda mining circle will be completed by January 9 while that in Koira sector will be done by February-end. Moreover, 240 RML pending cases will be expedited.

The steel & mines department had rejected RML cases of over 40 lessees lacking all statutory clearances.

Meanwhile, 51 lessees are operating their mines under deemed extension. The list of mines operating under deemed extension includes Tata Steel, Ferro Alloys Corporation Ltd (FACOR), Essel Mining & Industries Ltd Mid-East Integrated Steel, Patnaik Minerals Ltd, R P Sao, Rungta Mines and OCL India among others.

Regarding digitization of mine lease boundaries, the state government claimed to have completed nearly 80 per cent of the work and the whole exercise is set to be completed within a month.