The Centre has taken a decision to empower state governments to make rules for prevention of illegal mining and all the other matters connected with it.
The Ministry of Mines will, however, work in co-ordination with state governments to curb and check illegal mining in the country.
This information was given by Minister of State for Steel and Mines Vishnu Deo Sai in reply to a question posed in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.
The Ministry of Mines will regularly monitor the framing of rules by the state governments to control illegal mining as per Section 23C of Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957.
Furthermore, task forces have been set up at state and district level to control illegal mining. So far 23 States have reported to have constituted the Task Forces.
A State Coordination-cum-Empowered Committee (SCEC) has also been set up to coordinate efforts to control illegal mining by including representatives of Railways, Customs and Port authorities. So far 13 state governments have set up Coordination-cum-Empowered Committees.
A regular follow up will be done with the state governments to adopt an action plan with specific measures to detect and control illegal mining including, use of remote sensing, control on traffic, gather market intelligence, registration of end-users and setting up of special cells.
Ministry of Railways have instituted a mechanism on April 16, 2010 to allow transportation of iron ore only against permits issued rake-wise and verified by State Government, apart from taking measures to fence and set up check post at the railway sidings
Ministry of Shipping has directed all major Ports in the country to streamline the verification procedures for movement of iron ore, and to check whether royalty has been paid for the consignment.
Government has notified amendment in Rule 45 of Mineral Conservation and Development Rules, 1988, on February 9, 2011 making it mandatory for all miners, traders, stockists, exporters and end-users to register with IBM and report their transaction in minerals on monthly basis for a proper end-to-end accounting of minerals.
