CAG raps Maha govt for lack of policy on mineral extraction

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) today slammed the state government for not having prepared a policy for extraction of minerals other than sand and also for lack a centralised data.
In its report tabled in the Maharashtra legislature today, the CAG expressed concern over lack of prospecting of minor minerals "as the department concerned does not know about the presence of precious stones like cavansite, pentagonite in Pune district."
Recommending preparation of a database indicating the areas as well as quantum of the minor minerals available, it said, "Maharashtra Government does not have a centralised data about quantum of minor mineral (other than sand) and location as a result the management of the minor mineral could not be effectively monitored as mentioned in a few cases."

The report further said that there was no policy for extraction of other minor minerals like stone, murum etc.
The CAG also expressed concern over the Mining Department not being aware of the presence of precious stones.
"This indicated that there is a lack of prospecting of mineral mines," it observed.

Citing an example, the CAG said that during the inspection in Kolhapur and Thane districts, the department had detected 46 cases of illegal extraction of 1.16 lakh brass clay.
"The penalty was to be recovered at the rate of mineral mentioned in the District Scheduled Rate. However, in Thane, in five cases neither royalty of Rs 2.08 crore nor penalty of Rs 6.35 crore was recovered," states the report.

The CAG said it has noticed that the government lands were allotted for 28 leases of minor minerals and 13 leases of major minerals in Raigad, Chandrapur, Yavatmal and Nagpur districts, out of the nine districts checked, lease rent of Rs 12.90 crore for the year 2014 alone was not levied by the concerned Collectors on government land leased out for mining activities.
Besides this, the CAG recommended that the government may devise a suitable mechanism for information sharing between Regional Transport Office (RTO), Police and Revenue department for checking illegal transportation of minerals.
The CAG also recommended to the government to prepare database indicating the areas of minor minerals and the quantum of minor mineral available thereof and may devise a system for periodic measurement of quarries and sand in the ghats after its allotment.