To prevent violation of boundaries by lease holders in mining areas, the Orissa government has asked the Mining Circle Officers (MCOs) to start preliminary survey of lease boundaries in their areas of operation.
The government has come across cases where lessees tend to manipulate the location of the survey stone and boundary pillars to get access to unauthorised areas and thus violate the terms and conditions of the lease and other relevant rules like MMDR Act, 1957, MCR, 1960 and Orissa Forest Act, 1972
Keeping that in view, the field level mining officials have been asked to verify occupation beyond allowed lease, forest and non-forest areas. They will draw a plan of action for the mines located in their areas and submit it to the government, sources said.
Further, they have been asked to review the status of all mining leases (ML) working under the deemed extension provision to find out how many of them are running with all the statutory clearances. This issue was discussed in a meeting of the MCOs convened by the secretary, steel and mines department.
The meeting was convened to acquaint the field officials with various reforms being undertaken by the steel and mines department in the field of mineral administration. It was decided there to have closer co-ordination with the national level agencies like Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) and Director General of Mines Safety to check illegal mining activities in the state.
“The field level officials were explained about various reform and improvement measures being introduced by the government. It is expected to help in revamping the mineral administration in the state”, a senior official associated with the process said.
Since IBM doesn’t have enough manpower at the state level, state officials have been directed to detect any illegal mining activity and ask IBM for action on it. Further, as a measure to rationalise the weigh-bridge system, it was decided to tag some private weigh bridges to make supervision effective. The government weigh bridge system is slated to be revamped soon for regulating the movement of minerals.
The field officials have been asked to intensify the enforcement activities in their respective districts as envisaged in the Orissa Mineral (Prevention of theft, smuggling and illegal mining, and regulation of possession, storage, trading and transportation) Rules, 2007.
The government plans to impart special training to the staff engaged in enforcement activities both at the district and the state level. The progress will be regularly reviewed by the department, sources added.
