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 matters connected with illegal mining.
However, based on the quarterly returns submitted by State Governments on illegal mining to the Indian Bureau of Mines (a subordinate office under the administrative control of the Ministry of Mines), the number of illegal mining cases identified/reported by the Government of Telangana and subsequent action taken in last five years is provided at Annexure.
The Ministry of Mines through the 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 illegal mining activity beyond the lease boundaries.
Annexure
(The number of illegal mining cases identified/reported by the Government of Telangana on the quarterly returns submitted on illegal mining to IBM)
| Year | No. of Cases | FIR Lodged (Nos.) | Court Cases Filed (Nos.) | Vehicle Seized (No.) | Fine realized by State Govt. (Rs. Lakh) |
| 2017-18 | 6143 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1112.78 |
| 2018-19 | 6553 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1177.81 |
| 2019-20 | 7039 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1175.6 |
| 2020-21 | 5620 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 820.32 |
| 2021-22 | 2831 | 0 | 0 | 73 | 793.81 |
| Total | 28186 | 0 | 0 | 74 | 5080.32 |
This information was given by Union Minister of Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs Shri Pralhad Joshi in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.
Disclaimer: This is an official press release by Pib.
