The Orissa government has detected 1331 cases of loot of mineral resources and has seized 551 vehicles in this connection in the past 12 months in the 14 mining circles in the state.
According to Raghunath Mohanty, the minister for steel & mines in the state assembly, the state has seized 593,678 tonnes of different minerals and arrested 374 members of mine mafia active at these mining circles.
The amount collected from the seized mineral is Rs 29.95 crore which includes the cost of mineral seized, compounding fee and penalty.
The most number of cases pertaining to loot of minerals has been detected at the Joda mining circle (382) in Keonjhar district followed by Talcher (324), Koira (187) and Rourkela (138).
As many as 218 vehicles have been seized from Joda, 87 from Sambalpur, 76 from Talcher and 54 from .