Rajya Sabha
Cases of illegal mining are detected
predominantly in the eastern region, mainly in the States of Jharkhand, covering
BCCL, CCL and ECL, and West Bengal, covering ECL and BCCL.
The
main reasons for illegal mining activities are densely populated coal bearing
areas and adverse socio-economic conditions.
Illegal
mining takes place stealthily and clandestinely both inside and outside leasehold
areas of CIL subsidiaries. As such it is not possible to quantify the exact
amount of coal, which was extracted illegally during last three years. However, the quantity of coal seized from illegally
worked-out patches during last three years is given below :
|
Company
|
Quantity Seized (Tonnes)
|
|
2003-04
|
2004-05
|
2005-06
|
|
Eastern Coalfields
Limited (ECL)
|
2625.00
|
1331.97
|
2481.00
|
|
Bharat Coking Coal
Limited (BCCL )
|
363.00
|
120.50
|
639.31
|
|
Central Coalfields
Limited (CCL)
|
128.00
|
428.00
|
532.50
|
|
Northern Coalfields
Limited (NCL)
|
0.00
|
0.00
|
0.00
|
|
Western Coalfields
Limited (WCL)
|
74.00
|
144.00
|
26.50
|
|
South Eastern Coalfields
Limited (SECL)
|
43.00
|
955.65
|
42.50
|
|
Mahanadi Coalfields Limited
(MCL)
|
0.00
|
0.00
|
0.00
|
|
North Eastern Coalfields
Limited (NECL)
|
0.00
|
600.00
|
0.00
|
|
Total
|
3233.00
|
3580.12
|
3721.81
|
A Committee under the Chairmanship of Minister of State
for Coal has been constituted to look into the issues related to illegal mining
of coal. The Committee has held two
meetings so far with the representatives of Govt. of Jharkhand, Govt. of West
Bengal, Coal India Limited and its subsidiaries.
a
In
addition, the following steps are taken by coal companies to prevent illegal
mining :
i) Rat holes created by illegal mining are
being dozed off and filled up with stone and debris wherever possible.
ii)
Concrete walls have been created
on the mouth of the abandoned mines to prevent access and illegal activities
in these areas.
iii)
Fencing is being constructed
at the various illegal mining sites along with displaying of signboards mentioning
“Dangerous and Prohibited Place”.
iv) Dumping of the overburden is being done
on the outcrop zones which are not required to be mined.
v) Collection of intelligence reports about
illegal coal depots and illegal movement of coal and informing district authorities
of the same for taking preventive action.
vi) Installation of check-posts at vulnerable
points to check transport documents.
vii) Training of existing security personnel,
refresher training of CISF personnel and basic training of new recruits in
security discipline for strengthening the security setup.
viii) The coal companies maintain close liaison
with the State authorities.
This information was given by Dr.
Dasari Narayana Rao, the Minister of State for Coal in a written reply in the
Rajya Sabha today.
RCJ/ls
(Release ID :25649)