CHENNAI: The state government has informed the Madras High Court that the options for using the satellite-based mining surveillance system are being explored to bring minor minerals mining on the state radar.
The submission was made before a special bench of Justices N Sathish Kumar and D Bharatha Chakravarthy recently when a batch of petitions on forest-related matters came up for hearing.
The Commissioner of Geology and Mining has written to the Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Application and Geo-informatics (BISAG) in Gujarat asking it whether the remote sensing satellite-based ‘mining surveillance system’ can be used for keeping vigil on mining of minor minerals and eco-sensitive zones in Coimbatore, Dindigul, Karur, Salem, Namakkal, Tiruvannamalai and other districts.
“Any activity outside the lease boundary area within a radius of 500 metres will be captured in the remote sensing satellite imagery, triggers area generated and those triggers area shared by BISAG can be verified through ground truthing and if mining is done outside lease boundary, action can be taken,” said a status report submitted by Coimbatore collector.
The report, filed through special government pleader T Seenivasan, also stated that a private agency has been engaged to prepare a detailed project report for installing AI-enabled cameras and ANPR cameras in vantage points at Perur, Alandurai, Periyanaikenplayam and other areas in Coimbatore. A toll-free number 1800-2333-995 has been introduced to receive complaints and information on illegal mining activities; a private agency is engaged for developing a mobile app and an internet portal for lodging such complaints.
Further, the report said The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI), New Delhi, can be employed for holding drone survey in the landscape where trenches were made in the mined areas.
Thirteen police personnel in the rank of SI, who had worked in Perur and Periyanaickenpalayam sub-division from 2021 to 2024, and 19 VAOs, 2 RIs and a tahsildar were shifted to facilitate the probe by the SIT constituted to look into illegal mining and lapses of the authorites concerned.