Tech Centre in Chennai to Monitor Illegal Mining

CHENNAI: The natural resources department has intensified its crackdown to stop illegal mining to prevent loss of revenue to the government and the environmental consequences of indiscriminate mining.

The government is setting up a monitoring centre at Guindy, with modern equipment, to supervise the movement of vehicles carrying minerals and the excavation of minerals at any place in Tamil Nadu.

This step comes close on the heels of providing powers to the director of geology and mines to decide on banning the transport of any mineral from Tamil Nadu and extension of the ban on transport of minerals and sand to other states for another three months.

The setting up of a centre to monitor the excavation and transport of mines was revealed by natural resources minister T.K. Prabhu who addressed the media at the Chennai airport.

He said the whole operation to monitor mining would be digitalised and the new technology would detect the breaking of the ground containing minerals anywhere in the state besides carrying them in vehicles.

He said action had been taken on the culprits who had broken the rocks on the bed of the Cauvery river before reaching the Mettur dam and they could not get away by just paying fines.

Prabhu said the government was also considering selling the minerals after converting them into value-added products, instead of selling them as raw rocks. It was also thinking of technologies to separate the minerals from the raw materials, he added.

Till now about 24,000 of the 1.4 lakh vehicles used for mining have installed GPS in their vehicles though the government announced that vehicles without GPS are not allowed to carry minerals, crushed stones (blue metal), M-sand and sand from October 1.

The government is cancelling the trip sheets if GPS is not found in the vehicles carrying minerals and sand. Vehicles without permission will not be allowed to carry the mineral rocks, crushed stone and sand including M-sand.

The government had rejected the requests for allowing vehicles without GPS to carry minerals. The government plans to monitor about 1 lakh vehicles carrying minerals when they are fitted with GPS to detect illegal mining and regulate the system. The fitting of GPS had become necessary to stop vehicles carrying minerals without permission or fake permission documents.

Another measure is the extension of the three-month ban on the transportation of minerals and sand to other states since over-exploitation of minerals leads to dangerous environmental consequences for the state and raising the rates of the same minerals in Tamil Nadu.

The indiscriminate carrying of minerals from Tamil Nadu to other states has been happening for several decades, leading to the deterioration of land, water and air quality in Tamil Nadu.

The powers granted to the geology and mines director to ban the transportation of any minerals, any time, would be based on the needs of Tamil Nadu and the possibilities of environmental damage to the land and water in the state.