The government on Monday said states have detected a total of 25,519 illegal mining cases with fines worth Rs 622 crore realised, till June of the current fiscal.
Both the maximum number of illegal mining cases detected and fines recovered are from Maharashtra at 7,721 and Rs 131.43 crore respectively, Mines Minister Dinsha Patel said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.
He quoted figures from Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) that gets reports of the mining details from the states.
The second highest number of such cases was found in Andhra Pradesh where 5,227 illegal mining cases were detected and fines worth Rs 93.04 crore were received.
“Since the state governments deal with cases of illegal mining, therefore, specific details are not centrally maintained in the Ministry,” Patel said.
No illegal mining cases, till June of the current fiscal, could be found in states like Goa and Jharkhand. As many as 3,266 illegal mining cases were detected in Uttar Pradesh.
“As per section 23C of Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, the state governments have been empowered to make rules for preventing illegal mining,” Patel said.
To a separate question, he said Odisha has detected 1,281 illegal mining cases since 2009-10 till June of 2012-13. The state during the period had filed 36 court cases and realised fine of Rs 43.39 crore.
Odisha is estimated to have 593 crore tonnes of iron ore and 7,145 crore tonnes of coal deposits, he said.