Illegal Mining

The Centre on Wednesday said it is the responsibility of state governments to stop all kinds of illegal coal mining, including rat-hole, underlining that it is working in close coordination with states to lower the number of accidents in coal fields. Asked about the recent accident and loss of lives at a coal mine in Assam where allegedly rat-hole mining was being carried out, Union Coal Minister G Kishan Reddy said in Lok Sabha that he has spoken to Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on the matter. "It is the responsibility of the state government to check rat-hole mining," he said. Reddy said the Assam chief minister has conveyed to him that around 250 rat-hole mining sites have been closed down in the state and 12 people were arrested in this connection. Replying to another supplementary question on alleged illegal mining in Jharkhand, he said the state police and government have to act against it as it is their responsibility. Reddy said the central government has a zero ...

With 22 major minerals and 36 minor ones, Rajasthan is the country's only producer of lead, zinc, wollastonite, selenite, calcite, and gypsum

The death toll in a monthslong standoff between police and miners trapped while working illegally in an abandoned gold mine in South Africa has risen to at least 87, police said Thursday. Authorities faced growing anger and a possible investigation over their initial refusal to help the miners and instead smoke them out" by cutting off their food supplies. National police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said that 78 bodies were retrieved in a court-ordered rescue operation, with 246 survivors also pulled out from deep underground since the operation began on Monday. Mathe said nine other bodies had been recovered before the rescue operation, without giving details. Community groups launched their own rescue attempts when authorities said last year they would not help the hundreds of miners because they were criminals. The miners are suspected to have died of starvation and dehydration, although no causes of death have been released. South African authorities have been fiercely critic

South African police said on Wednesday they have ended a rescue operation at an abandoned gold mine where scores of illegal miners were trapped and believe they rescued all the survivors and retrieved all the bodies of those who died. The announcement was a surprise and came just a day after the police minister said the rescue operation would likely last until at least next week. Police said that 78 bodies had been recovered from the gold mine since the rescue operation began on Monday and more than 240 survivors had been rescued. Police made the announcement at a news conference at the mine. They said rescuers would do a final sweep of the mine on Thursday to ensure no more survivors or bodies were underground. Rescuers and volunteers have pulled at least 78 dead miners and more than 160 survivors from an abandoned South African gold mine, where they languished for months during a standoff with authorities who demanded they surrender to police because they were mining ...

Rescuers and volunteers have pulled at least 78 dead miners and more than 160 survivors from an abandoned South African gold mine, where they have languished for over two months during a standoff with authorities who demanded they surrender to police because they were mining illegally. Hundreds are still believed to be trapped on Wednesday and the death toll is expected to rise in a disaster that has focused criticism on the South African government's decision to try to smoke them out by cutting off food and other supplies for a time. Civic groups claim authorities also removed the ropes and pulley systems that the miners used to enter and exit at least one shaft and send down supplies. The groups say the government's weekslong refusal to stage a rescue effectively left scores of miners to die of starvation or dehydration. A rescue is now underway after a court order but only a few miners can be pulled up at a time, and the operation could take 10 days. South African authorities

Hundreds more men and dozens more bodies are still trapped underground. All 82 that have been arrested are facing illegal mining, trespassing and contravention of the Immigration Act charges

The National Green Tribunal has asked a petitioner to approach the Delhi Pollution Control Committee or the mining department regarding allegations of illegal instream and riverbed sand mining from the Yamuna in north Delhi. The tribunal gave the order to enable the committee or department to ascertain the extent of the illegal activity. The green body was hearing a petition by the Jagatpur village chief, or 'pradhan', who alleged that the sand mafia was illegally extracting huge quantities of the sand in the area. The petition also alleged that a bund (check dam) created near Jagatpur and Burari villages in Delhi had developed cracks because of unauthorised activities. In an order dated December 24, a bench of NGT Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava and expert member A Senthil Vel said that the complaint first required to be looked into by the DPCC or the mining department to find the "reality and extent" of the illegal mining. "Hence, we dispose of the original application (

He said that investigations regarding mining cases against him have been ongoing for 12 years

The minister said that the Union government has already constituted a committee headed by former Director General of Forests Sanjay Kumar to study the eco-sensitive zone

In January, the probe agency had conducted extensive searches at premises linked to Surender Panwar and his associates in Haryana's Sonepat

The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought responses from Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh within six weeks on a plea seeking investigation into illegal sand mining cases and the termination of leases of entities involved in it. A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Sanjay Kumar said a fine of Rs 20,000 will be imposed if the states don't file counter affidavits in six weeks. Though Rs 20,000 fine is not commensurate with the value of illegal sand mining alleged, it will force the states to file the affidavits, Justice Khanna said. The bench listed the matter for November. Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for petitioner M Alagarsamy, submitted that the petition dates back to 2018 and said the four states had not filed affidavits on the status of illegal sand mining despite notices being issued to them. Bhushan, assisted by advocate Pranav Sachdeva, said massive illegal sand mining is going on. This is damaging the environment and till now only the Punjab ...

To prevent illegal mining, the state will prioritise preparing and auctioning as many mining blocks as possible

As part of the ongoing statewide campaign against illegal mining activities in Rajasthan, drone surveys will be conducted in large mining areas so that such activities can be stopped. Mines Secretary Anandhi has given instructions to this effect in the meeting of the departmental officers on Saturday. According to the official statement, in the statewide campaign being run against illegal mining activities, instructions have been given to take action against illegal mining activities by conducting surveys through drones, if necessary, in large mining areas. In the meeting, she said that emphasis has been laid on eliminating the source of illegal mining activities so that these illegal mining activities can be effectively stopped. Anandhi held a virtual meeting with the officials of the Mines Department. She asked the revenue officers to take action in cases of illegal mining. It was told in the meeting that in Bhilwara alone, 70-75 cases of illegal mining have been identified and

The Enforcement Directorate has filed an FIR with the police against former Haryana MLA Dilbag Singh and a dozen others allegedly associated with him on charges of illegal mining and "diverting" the flow of the River Yamuna. The federal agency had raided the former Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) legislator from Yamunanagar assembly seat, Congress MLA from Sonipat Surender Panwar and their linked entities earlier this month in an alleged illegal mining linked money laundering case. It had arrested Dilbag Singh and his associate Kulwinder Singh after raiding about 20 premises of the two politicians and their linked persons in Yamunanagar, Sonipat, Mohali, Faridabad, Chandigarh, and Karnal. These searches were based on a case, registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), that took cognisance of multiple FIRs of the Haryana Police regarding illegal mining of boulders, gravel and sand that took place in the past in Yamunanagar and nearby districts even after the lease

The Enforcement Directorate on Thursday raided locations of Haryana Congress MLA Surender Panwar, former INLD legislator Dilbag Singh and some others as part of a money laundering case linked to alleged illegal mining in Yamuna Nagar district of the state, official sources said. As many as 20 locations of the two politicians and linked entities in Yamuna Nagar, Sonipat, Mohali, Faridabad, Chandigarh, and Karnal are being searched under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said. The money laundering case stems from several FIRs of the Haryana Police registered to probe alleged illegal mining that took place in Yamuna Nagar and nearby districts in the past.

Seven miners were confirmed dead and more than 20 others were missing and presumed dead after heavy rains caused landslides that buried them inside tunnels they had been digging illegally at a copper mine in Zambia, police and local authorities said Saturday. No bodies had yet been retrieved after the landslides late on Thursday night, police said. Many of the victims were believed to have drowned. The miners were digging for copper ore at the Seseli open-pit mine in the copper-belt city of Chingola, around 400 km (250 miles) north of the capital, Lusaka, according to police. The landslides happened some time between 9 pm and 10 pm on Thursday, police said. Police gave names or partial names of seven confirmed victims and said all of the miners in the tunnels are suspected to have died. Neither police nor government officials could say exactly how many miners were trapped in the tunnels, but Chingola District Commissioner Raphael Chumupi told The Associated Press that there were at

Multi Sector Committee in its interim report has highlighted that 68 out of 131 stone crushers in Beas river in Himachal Pradesh were running without permission, officials said on Friday. Along with the climatic change, the unscientific and illegal mining along the river beds are responsible for the natural calamity in the state causing huge damage to life and property, the committee, in its interim report submitted to the government said. The committee was constituted after the disaster wreaked havoc in Himachal during monsoons triggering flash floods and massive landslides claiming 509 lives in rain-related incidents and road accidents, a spokesperson of the state government said. As per the report, out of 131 stone crushers set up in the Beas river basin, 68 did not have the necessary permission while seven were affected by the floods, few anomalies were found in six and only 50 operators were found to have the valid permits, the spokesperson said. Due to excessive muck dumping

The National Green Tribunal has formed a panel and asked it to submit a factual and action-taken report on the alleged illegal mining of bauxite in Jharkhand's Lohardaga. The NGT was hearing a petition which was registered following a media report on illegal bauxite mining in Lohardaga. Lohardaga is also known as the 'Bauxite Town' of the country. A bench of NGT Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava referred to the news report on large-scale, rampant illegal mining of bauxite, which was clandestinely transported in trucks having forged number plates. The bench also comprising judicial member Justice Sudhir Agarwal and expert member A Senthil Vel, in a recent order, said, The news item reveals that a substantial issue relating to compliance of environmental laws is involved. We deem it proper to form a joint committee comprising of the representatives of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), Member Secretary, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), ..

Intensifying action against illegal mining in Himachal Pradesh, the police issued over 12,500 challans during the past 21 months and collected a fine of Rs 8.19 crore in 10,891 cases, an official statement said on Wednesday. The remaining 1,680 have been sent to the court and 77 criminal cases of illegal mining have been registered, DGP Sanjay Kundu said in the statement. According to the statement, 12,571 challans were issued from January 1, 2022 to September 20, 2023. The police also impounded 1,539 vehicles involved in illegal mining and sent seven cases involving property worth Rs 11 crore to the Enforcement Directorate for necessary action, it said. In 2022, 6,686 challans were issued and 5,998 cases were settled. In 2023, from January 1 till September 20, 5,885 challans were issued and 4,893 challans were settled, the statement said. Similarly, the fine imposed in the compounded cases in 2022 was Rs 3.61 crore and Rs 4.58 crore in 2023, it said. The DGP said the increase in

The bench said that "in view of the averments made in the application, we consider it appropriate that a Joint Committee be constituted to verify the factual position and take appropriate action