Reiterating his government’s commitment to protect the wealth of mines in Tamil Nadu, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Tuesday said that despite the State’s best efforts, illegal mining was continuing in some places and monitoring had been stepped up to prevent it.
“Mining should be allowed without causing damage to the environment and the revenue from it should [be used] for the people’s benefit. The government is committed to achieving it,” he said in a statement.
“All mines belong to the people of the State, and illegal mining is a crime,” he said, spelling out the stringent measures taken by the government to prevent illegal mining and smuggling.
Mr. Stalin said that the government had the duty to prevent smuggling of minerals and recalled the legislation enacted by the government in 2011 to protect mines, ensure revenue for the government through mining and prevent smuggling of minerals to other States.
Mr. Stalin said that Tamil Nadu was one of the States in the country that was rich in mines, and had huge deposits of lime, magnesite, graphite, bauxite, iron ore, vermiculite rich with hydrous silicate, and granite, besides clay, silicon, sand, lignite, petroleum and natural gases, rutile and illuminite necessary for nuclear power generation.
“Now, drones are monitoring quarries to prevent mining of minerals beyond the permitted level. The government has allotted ₹1224.87 crore for protecting the mines and implementation of welfare schemes to develop areas where mines are situated,” he said.
Pointing out that the Commissioner of Geology and Mines had appointed special teams to conduct surprise visits to quarries in Kanniyakumari, Tenkasi, Coimbatore and Krishnagiri, he said monitoring of vehicles carrying minerals had been stepped up.
In Kanniyakumari, 431 vehicles had been seized for carrying [minerals] beyond the permitted level and ₹1,76,93,348 crore in fine was collected, he said, adding: “A total of 79 vehicles were seized for illegal mining and 39 cases were registered.”
Noting that a similar action was taken in other districts, Mr. Stalin said officials had been advised to cancel the driving licence and file cases against vehicle owners.
