The CAG report has slammed the state government for not having a policy for extraction of minerals other than sand, and no centralised data.
The CAG report has slammed the state government for not having a policy for extraction of minerals other than sand, and no centralised data. The report also expressed concern over lack of prospecting of minor minerals as the department did not know about presence of precious stones like canvansite and pentagonite in Pune district.
The CAG report stated that there was no policy for extraction of minor minerals like stone and murum. “The GoM does not have centralised data about quantum of minor minerals (other than sand) and their location, and as a result, management of minor minerals cannot be effectively monitored as mentioned in a few cases,” the report said.
With the mining department unaware of the existence of precious and semi-precious stones like canvansite and Pentagonite in Wagholi in Haveli tehsil of Pune district, the CAG report said, “This indicated that there is lack of prospecting of mineral mines.”
Giving the example of Thane and Kolhapur districts, the report said that during inspection in these districts, the department had detected 46 cases of illegal extraction of 1.16 lakh brass clay, and penalty was to be recovered at the rate of mineral mentioned in the District Scheduled Rate. In five cases in Thane, neither royalty of Rs 2.08 crore nor penalty of Rs 6.35 crore was recovered, the report stated.
The report recommended a suitable mechanisms for information sharing between RTO, police and revenue departments for checking illegal transportation of minerals.
