Efforts to Curb Illegal Mining

The Government has vested power in the State Governments for enacting laws to check illegal mining. Section 23C of Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act (MMDR Act) 1957, empowers the State Governments to frame rules to prevent illegal mining and the State Governments may, by notification in the Official Gazette, make such rules for preventing illegal mining, transportation and storage of minerals and for the purposes connected therewith.

In pursuance of the provisions of Section 23(C) of the Act, altogether, 22 State Governments namely, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamilnadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, and West Bengal have framed rules to curb illegal mining.

Further, as per the information provided by various State Governments to the Indian Bureau of Mines, a Sub-ordinate Office of Ministry of Mines, the number of cases of Illegal mining in the Country including Rajasthan for a period from 2019-20 to 2021-22 alongwith the details of action taken on the complaints is given at Annexure-I.

ANNEXURE-I (PQ 1234)

n.r. – Quarterly return not received.

This information was given by the Minister of Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs Shri Pralhad Joshi in a written reply in Lok Sabha