Railways, port authorities urged to help check illegal mining

The Orissa government has requested the Railways and the port authorities in the state to initiate measures to check illegal raising and transportation of minerals through their networks.

On close examination of the issues relating to the system weakness in the mineral administration, it was found that though the transportation of minerals are being done by the railways and port authorities, there is no proper verification of the sources of procurement of these raw- materials.

zIn this backdrop, the chief secretary, Tarunkanti Mishra had convened a meeting of the senior officials of the railways and Paradeep port to discuss the issue.

The meeting deliberated on the procedures adopted by them while allowing the shipment or transportation through railways. It was informed in the meeting that the railway authorities have siding facilities at different railway stations for transportation of minerals.

Persons intending to transport minerals through railways book space near the railway siding and arrange transportation through its network. However, the government apprehends that the minerals transported through this route are not verified for authencity and bonafideness.

The government authorities further believe that in the absence of such verification of the source of procurement, it is not possible to establish whether the ores transported to various destinations outside the state are legally or illegally mined.

Keeping that in view, the railway authorities were urged to support the state government in detection of illegal mining and transportation of ores. Simultaneously, the port authorities were asked to take measures to verify the minerals for its authenticity of procurement. This would facilitate shipment of the only legally procured minerals while preventing shipment of illegal minerals.

“The state being the owner of the minerals has all the right to check illegal mining, storage and transportation of minerals”, said a senior official associated with the process.

It may be noted, the Orissa government has constituted an inter departmental committee of various revenue generating departments for sharing of intelligence, resources and manpower with a view to check illegal mining activities in the state.

The government has also sought the assistance of the IIT (Kharagpur) for application of technology at different stages of mining operations to prevent illegal mining as the existing manpower is inadequate.