Maharashtra Rolls Out Mahakhanij 2.0 To Check Illegal

Mumbai: In a bid to prevent illegal mining of minor minerals, the Maharashtra Government on Tuesday launched the portal ‘Mahakhanji 2.0,’ which will monitor, track and manage the excavation and transport of minor minerals across the state.

The portal was inaugurated by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday in the presence of Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Sunetra Pawar and Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule.

“Illegal mining of minor minerals leads to loss of revenue to the state government and loss of natural resources. It is an attempt to make the process from mining to transportation more transparent and technology-based through Mahakhanij 2.0. The system will help prevent revenue leakage by effectively controlling illegal mining and transportation,” said CM Fadnavis.

According to state officials, the mining mafias in Maharashtra evade state government revenue by illegally extracting soil, murrum and crushed stone. There were constant complaints that the state government is losing revenue due to illegal mining of minor minerals in the state. Exceeding the permitted mining, traffic irregularities and illegal traffic permits have posed a major challenge for the state revenue department.

The new system will provide digital records from extraction to transportation of secondary minerals. Mining area, storage area and traffic information are integrated and facilities like e-TP, digital traffic permit, GPS tracking of vehicles, drone survey, online toll payment, report-analysis and grievance redressal have been made available.

With this portal, how much mining permission has been given for the mining area, how much mining has actually taken place and how much ore has been transported can be verified. Information of vehicles related to traffic licenses and their movements can also be tracked, which will help in controlling illegal mining and traffic.

"With the present system, the state government treasury has garnered revenue amounting to approximately Rs 16,000 crore over the past five years. Now, through the new and advanced ‘Mahakhanij 2.0’ version, an ambitious target of collecting Rs 25,000 crore in revenue over the next five years has been set," said revenue minister Bawankule.

Rubal Agarwal, the Divisional Commissioner of the Konkan Division, has been appointed as the nodal officer for this project and will oversee excavation operations across the entire state. A state level control room of Mahakhanij 2.0 has been set up at Konkan Bhawan in Navi Mumbai.