Ahead of an impending policy decision on mining minerals, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Tuesday ordered stoppage of mining operations in quarries of major minerals (Beach Minerals) in four southern districts - Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli, Madurai and Tiruchi.
In a statement here, the Chief Minister said that a policy decision on the quarries of minerals would be taken based on the report filed by a team headed by Revenue Secretary Gagandeep Singh Bedi, which carried out a probe into mining in Tuticorin district.
The Chief Minister recalled that when the government received reports about illegal mining of Beach Minerals like garnet, ilmenite and rutile in Tuticorin district, she had formed the special team under the Revenue Secretary to inspect the quarries and submit a report within a month. She had also stopped the mining operations till the inspections were over.
The team, exercising all the powers accorded to it as enumerated in Section 24 of Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, conducted detailed inspections along with six sub-teams comprising officials from the departments of Revenue, Environment and Forests and Geology and Mining, and Pollution Control Board. The teams inspected the quarries in Tuticorin in three phases from August 12 to August 30. Based on the reports, the Revenue Secretary submitted the report to the Chief Minister on September 17.