The Minister of State for Mines (Independent Charge) Shri
Dinsha Patel in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today gave the
following information:-
Some incidents of illegal mining have been reported to the
Central Government and these have been sent to State Governments to take
suitable action. As per available information, the Central Government has not
seized any consignment of iron ore. However, Karnataka State Forest Department
had seized about 8,05,991.083 metric tonnes of ore without valid permits. The
seized material was kept at the disposal of Port Conservator, Belikere Port for
safe custody.
However, on the basis of a report that the seized material has
been exported illegally, the Karnataka State Forest Department investigated the
matter, which revealed that 6.00 lakh metric tonnes of seized material has been
illegally exported. The State Government has initiated stringent action against
the culprits.
The Central Government has amended Rule 45 of the Mineral Conservation and
Development making it mandatory for all miners, traders, stockists, exporters
and end-users to register with the Indian Bureau of Mines and report on
movement of minerals to Indian Bureau of Mines and State Government. Such
end-to-end accounting will reduce the scope for transportation illegally mined
minerals, including export of iron ore.
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