Chhattisgarh recovers Rs 3.40 crore as fines on illegal mining

RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh said in the assembly here today that Rs 3.40 crore were recovered as fines from over 1,700 cases of illegal mining were reported during the last four years.

The state also recovered Rs 13.64 crore as fines from 13,084 cases of illegal transportation of minerals during the same period.

In a written reply tabled on the floor of the House, the Chhattisgarh CM said that from January 2010 to December 2013, 1786 cases of illegal mining activities were registered.

Out of these cases, 1,235 were disposed off and Rs 3,40,51,719 was recovered as fines.

As per the reply, maximum cases of illegal mining (220) were reported in Sarguja district of North Chhattisgarh, followed by Durg (217), Kawardha (214), Koriya (179), Raigargh (149), Janjgir Champa (129), Korba (93), Raipur (76), Dhamtari (75), Mahasamund (62), Bilaspur (56), Jashpur (54),Balod (50), Balrampur (33), Balodabazar (32), Bastar (27), Dantewada (25), Surajpur (25), Rajnandgaon (17), Bemetara (15), Kanker (13), Mungeli (11), Gariaband (4), Kondagaon (3) and Sukma (1).

During the same period 13,084 cases of illegal transportation of minerals were reported of which 12,922 were disposed off and Rs 13,64,55,769 was recovered.

The largest number of illegal mineral transport cases occurred in Durg district, which saw 1,511 cases, while Raipur (1,155), Janjgir-Champa (1,291), Raigarh (1,205) and Sarguja (1,269) were other districts from where large number of such cases were reported.