This step has been taken by the Jharkhand government after receiving ‘information’ from various sources that a ‘huge quantity’ of minerals is being transported or sent through railways without valid e-challans. Jharkhand has been in news for the last one year over the illegal mining of stones worth Rs 1000 crores in Sahibganj district.
Ranchi: The Jharkhand government has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the role of Railways in illegal transportation of minerals. Along with this, the Railways has been asked to instruct its officials to fully cooperate with this ‘high level’ inquiry committee.
According to The Indian Express, the directive came after the government received “information” from various sources that “huge quantities” of minerals were being transported or dispatched through the railways without valid e-invoices.
A press release by the Chief Minister’s Secretariat said, ‘Chief Minister Hemant Soren has constituted a one-member committee headed by Vinod Kumar Gupta (Retd. Chief Justice, Jharkhand High Court) to investigate and prevent the role of railways in illegal transportation of minerals within the state. It has been decided to form a committee. Its tenure will be of six months.
This is important because Jharkhand has been in news for the last one year for illegal stone chips mining worth Rs 1000 crore in Sahibganj district.
Pankaj Mishra, an aide of Chief Minister Soren, was earlier arrested by the ED as a ‘mastermind’ accused and is currently in judicial custody. In this case, ED had questioned Soren.
However, before his appearance, Soren in a letter to the ED had talked about transporting 80 million metric tonnes of illegally mined stone (allegedly worth Rs 1000 crore). For this, 4,500 trucks will be needed daily for two years, while Sahebganj has about 800 registered trucks.
Soren had said in the letter, ‘It appears that you (ED) have not identified the loading of even a single rake (in trains) without challan, as you have not taken action against any railway official. You claim that about 6,500 rakes loaded (mined) stone in Sahibganj district during the last two years. Even if all these 6,500 rakes were loaded with only illegally mined stone, which may not be the case, they would not be enough to transport the total 80 million metric tonnes of illegally mined stone, thereby Revenue of Rs 1,000 crore will be received.
The Jharkhand Minerals (Prevention of Illegal Mining, Transport and Storage) Rules, 2017 have been notified under section 23C of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act to prevent illegal transportation of minerals in the state.
According to Rule 9(1) of the notified rules, the transportation of excavated minerals by rail is also to be done only through the transport challan obtained from the Jharkhand Integrated Mines and Mineral Management System (JIMMS) portal.
However, Soren said, ‘Several instructions have been issued for transportation of minerals with valid e-challan through the Department of Mining, Geology and various Deputy Commissioner/District level officials. Despite all these efforts, information is being received from various sources that large quantities of minerals are being transported/sent through railways without valid e-challans.
He further said, ‘In this context, information/data has been sent by the Deputy Commissioner Dumka regarding the transportation of stone chips without permit/challan from the Railways. The involvement of railway officials is visible in this irregularity. Therefore, it has been decided to form a one-man SIT to investigate and suggest ways to curb the role of railway officials in illegal transportation of various minerals within the state.
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Categories: India, Politics