Page 17 - Tehelka Issue 8&9

industry

CoverStory
The Black

TruTh: Block scam because it involves alleged plundering of rare minerals including illegal export
It is a scam, which appears much bigger and more dangerous than the infamous Coal

of atomic minerals such as limonite, rutile, zircon and monazite-a prohibited substance to
various countries including China. Yet it has continued for donkey years. The documents
Larger Department of Atomic Energy are not only being illegally mined but also sold to countries
exclusively accessed by Tehelka highlight how atomic minerals including those which are
considered as prescribed minerals as per the list of prescribed substances issued by the

like China, unhindered and unstopped, writes charanjit ahuja

than CoaL BLoCk

sCam overnments have been coming and “existing policy seems to be only on paper and is not

going, but the loot has been continuing
being enforced perhaps due to the involvement of
very powerful vested interests or failure of nerve”.
forever. Tehelka investigations throw a
The investigations take into account data supplied
G light on large scale illegal mining and their
exports going on for over a decade of official neglect
and collusion by various departments of the Centre by each of the government agencies involved in
granting permission to mine beach sand and atomic
and the andhra Pradesh government — from the minerals illegally and with impunity.
Department of atomic energy to the Union Ministry Data analysed from various sources and a com-
of Mines as well as various departments of the State. prehensive complaint filed by a spirited individual
Mining actually is a scam — bigger than most with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and assessed
scams in view of bureaucracy-politician nexus, but it by Tehelka reveal that there is no doubt that mining
has failed to catch public attention because it is diffi- and exports of beach minerals have continued with
cult to link big names with illegal mining and export impunity, flouting all laws and procedures that gov-
of precious minerals. environmentally irresponsi- ern the sector.
ble mining is a longstanding problem. Unscrupu- The Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) and the atomic
lous mining companies, criminal organizations, and Minerals Directorate (aMD) approve the Mining
corrupt officials have damaged the local ecosystem Plans. The IBM comes under the Union Ministry of
in pursuit of profits. The Centre has been of the view Mines, and the aMD under the Department of atom-
that states need to be given powers to grant envi- ic energy, directly under the purview of the Prime
ronmental clearance. Do the states have adequate Minister. The State government’s transport permits
paraphernalia? too have been examined and collated — without
We all know that mining plays havoc with ecosys- these documents, mining and exports cannot take
tem and biodiversity but prosecution rate has been place. Data available with the Customs Department
dismal. For instance, in 2015-17 as many as 1,07,609 has been cross-verified to come to a conclusion on
illegal mining cases were filed across all states in the quantum of illegal mining.
the country but only 6,033 FIRs were lodged. The Beach sands of the Srikakulum in andhra
Supreme Court in august 2017 directed the Centre Pradesh comprise a mixture of rare atomic miner-
to revise the National Mineral Policy because the als such as ilmenite, rutile, leucoxene, zircon and

Tehelka / 15 may 2017 12 www.Tehelka.com Tehelka / 15 may 2018 11 17 www.Tehelka.com

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