Theft of minor minerals is not new across India. But recent audits have blown the lid off the systematic loot that was going on across Odisha in a brazen violation of norms. Thanks to poor governance, the state leaked critical revenue while an organised mafia benefited. Instances of operating without permit, mining in no-go areas such as in forests and on riverbeds, and defiance of court orders by revenue authorities are some of the issues the auditor general flagged. In Sambalpur district, a lessee was allowed to extract stones from two quarries located within forest land without prior permission from the Centre. Between 2015 and 2020, the leaseholder extracted 4.76 lakh cubic metres of stones in clear violation of the Forest Conservation Act and managed to get away with a paltry penalty. Worse still, agencies implementing government infrastructure projects procured minerals from unauthorised sources, leading to a revenue loss of `864 crore over seven years. Such blatant violations occurred during the last two tenures of the BJD government.
Theft of minor minerals—which include stone, gravel, clay and sand—is rampant across India. Much of it is enabled by a nexus between organised crime syndicates and state officials, at times with the blessings of their political masters. It is no different in Odisha. A hill in Jajpur district bore the brunt of administrative lapses as the leaseholder extracted granite without the state pollution control board’s consent to operate. Between 2002 and 2015, against the stipulation of 14 lakh cubic metres, it mined close to 73 lakh cubic metres—more than five times. An income tax investigation found that an operative has sold stones and stone aggregates worth ₹200 crore from the same site since 2014, helping him acquire benami assets across the country.
Mineral earnings are a crucial source of non-tax revenues. Between 2015 and 2023, Odisha earned ₹1.38 lakh crore as mineral receipts, almost a quarter of the total revenue generated by the state. But the share of minor minerals, though a substantial ₹3,475 crore, has dropped. Revenue leakage aside, illegal mining causes irreversible damage to the environment. The state’s BJP government should not sit on the probe reports. It must stop the daylight loot and fix accountability on those responsible for it.