CHENNAI: The state government has decided to seek the help of the Bhaskaracharya Institute of Special Application and Geo Informatics (BISAGI), Ahmedabad, to install Mining Surveillance System (MSS) on the entire beach sand mineral-bearing areas in three southern districts of the Tamil Nadu.
A submission on this was made to the Union government, the State Industries Secretary Vikram Kapoor told the first Bench of Acting Chief Justice Huluvadi G Ramesh and Justice R Mahadevan, when a batch of Public Interest Litigations, including one from Victor Rajamanickam, came up before it for hearing last week.
Originally the advocate, V Suresh, had been appointed as amicus curiae by the then first Bench of Chief Justice SK Kaul (since elevated to the Supreme Court).
The amicus curiae on January 11 suggested to the Bench to direct the Union Ministries of Mines, Electronics and Information Technology and the Bhaskaracharya Institute to extend the Mining Surveillance System to all the areas in Tirunelveli, Kanniyakumari and Thoothukudi districts, where beach sand mining was done, and to file before the court monthly reports on the ‘triggers’ and the action taken.
The secretary added that a meeting was held on February 17 last in light of the Bench’s directive.
It discussed the issues on installing Mining Surveillance System and formation of special squads for curbing illegal mining and transportation of beach sand minerals as well as special teams headed by a secretary-level officer with assistance of the Central and State government officials to assess the stock of beach sand minerals stored in various places.
Of the 68 beach sand mining leases granted, 62 leases had already been uploaded by the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) through Bhaskaracharya Institute of Special Application and Geo Informatics and the remaining six leases would be uploaded within a month.
Anna University had also been requested to explore the possibility of getting the latest satellite images for monitoring the mining.
The Customs and Excise authorities had been requested to ensure that the beach sand minerals were brought to their area for export, only with valid documents as per Rule 3 of the Tamil Nadu Prevention of Illegal Mining, Transportation and Storage of Minerals and Minerals Dealers Rules, 2011.
It was further decided to send a proposal to the Centre for making necessary amendments to the export-import policy to insist on valid documents i.e transport permit/transit pass issued by the State authorities before allowing export of any mineral.
Earlier, the Advocate-General filed the report of Gagandeep Singh Bedi on illegal beach sand mining in the districts. A copy of the report was given to the amicus curiae by the AG as directed by the court.
The Bench, after directing the amicus curiae to file a thorough report, posted the matter to March 27 for further hearing.