Govt to introduce online system to curb illegal mining

21 Sep 2011 Evaluate

In order to control illegal mining, the government is planning to introduce online system by December for mandatory registration of all minerals-related transactions in the country. From last few years, there has been a rapid step-up in illegal mining in various states. In January-March 2011, around 24,405 cases of illegal mining cases have been registered.
 
Mines Secretary S Vijay Kumar said, 'we are going to introduce an end-to-end accounting system by the end of this year for all mineral transactions including mining, selling, transportation and export by miners, traders and exporters. This will check illegal mining'. By adding further he said, under the online system, registration of miners, traders and exporters of major minerals like iron ore, lime and bauxite will be a must. The registration will be done under the Mineral Conservation Development Rules (MCDR) through an amendment.

Currently, there are less legal provisions for the central intervention in the illegal mining in the state, however, the scale of crisis is very high, and around 82,330 cases were detected in 2010, which are almost double the 41,578 cases in 2009.

In September 21 meeting, the Central Coordination-cum-Empowered Committee (CEC) decided that the government will use satellite imagery to curb the menace. The state governments have been guided to control the illegal mining by improving monitoring of mineral system through empowered committees and district level task forces and fixing the loopholes in the royalty collection system.

The CEC also reviewed the situation regarding many important aspects of mineral concession systems in India, and gave stress on the need for bringing about more efficiency and transparency in the system. The meeting was attended by the representatives from Ministries of Environment and Forests, Defence, Home Affairs, Steel, Civil Aviation, Railway, Shipping, Finance. And official from the Indian Bureau of Mines and Geological Survey of India also participated in the meeting.

© 2026 The Alchemists Ark Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved. MoneyWorks4Me ® is a registered trademark of The Alchemists Ark Pvt. Ltd.

×