Is government doing enough to curb illegal mining?

By: Yash Gupte

There is enormous and large scale multi-state illegal mining of different minerals running into thousands of crores every year, having several evil effects on the national economy, good governance, public functionaries, bureaucracy, public order, law and order.

The mining industry is one of the largest industries in the country and employs thousands of people directly and indirectly. Though the mining industry provides employment to a large workforce in India, it remains one of the most dangerous and hazardous industries. Every year, hundreds of workers die in mines located across the country due to variety of factors such as leaking of dangerous gases like hydrogen sulphide or explosive natural gases, particularly firedamp or methane, dust explosions, collapsing of mine, mining-induced seismicity, flooding, or simple mechanical errors from misused or compromised mining equipment. Most of the deaths are not even reported as majority of the workers die in illegal mines.

Illegal mining is mining that is done without the approval of state or government authorities, especially when there are no land rights, mining licenses, or exploration or transportation permits in place. There is enormous and large scale multi-state illegal mining of different minerals running into thousands of crores every year, having several evil effects on the national economy, good governance, public functionaries, bureaucracy, public order, law and order. The illegal mining in India has encouraged huge corruption at all different levels in public life, mafia in society and money power. According to a report, the reasons behind illegal mining are lack of timely checks by the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM), boundary markings of the leased-out area  not clearly defined, lack of timely renewals of licenses and permits for mining. The responsibility is on the mine owners, who do not apply in time, and also on the various regulatory authorities where the applications are not processed in time.

One of the most dangerous form of illegal mining is the rathole mining. This type of mining is very common in the north-eastern state of Meghalaya. Miners are sent down deep vertical shafts with narrow horizontal tunnels of 3 to 4 feet in diameter to collect coal for 100 to 150 meters, and in some cases even beyond. This process mostly involves children because of their small body frame. Since the coal seams are very thin in Meghalaya, rat-hole mining is considered to be an economically viable method of coal extraction rather than removal of rocks from hilly terrains and putting up pillars inside the mine to prevent collapse like open cast mining.

Source: Press Information Bureau

Maharashtra tops the chart in the cases of illegal mining in the country. The cases of illegal mining involve mining of sand, iron ore, bauxite, chromite, coal, and stone in Maharashtra. According to geologists, Illegal mining cases are observed along the fringes of tier I and II cities in Maharashtra where construction development is underway. The environmental impact includes loss of forest cover, habitat and biodiversity of an area, soil erosion, groundwater contamination and permanent destruction of hilly areas. The data from the above chart shows that there is a significant reduction in the cases of illegal mining in the state from 10,456 in 2019-20 to 3,605 in 2021-22. Madhya Pradesh has topped the chart in 2021-22 with 9,361 cases of illegal mining followed by Andhra Pradesh (9,351) and Gujarat (8,713).

Despite, safety protocols and government policies and legislations on mining, the industry remains one of the most hazardous and unsafe industries in India. In order to put an end to the illegal mining in India, the Central government amended the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 in 2015. Under the amended act, the state government are also contributing in keeping a check on illegal mines in the country. The Ministry of Mines, through Indian Bureau of Mines, has developed the Mining Surveillance System (MSS) to use space technology for reporting any illegal mining activity to the State Government who will take necessary action. Mining Surveillance System (MSS) is a satellite-based monitoring system which aims to detect illegal mining activity beyond the lease area through use of satellite images. 

One of the most significant steps taken by the government in addressing the problem of illegal mining is the provision of Section 30B of the MMDR Act. It provides for constitution of Special courts by state governments for speedy trial of illegal mining/transportation/storage cases and 30C of the act provides that such Special Courts shall be deemed to be a Sessions Court.

But the data and the instances of illegal mining suggest that such measures are not enough to address the problem and ensure safety of workers and more needs to be done in order to address the problem of illegal mining in the country.