Category: ఈ-పేప‌ర్-E-Paper

• Years ago mica mines were abandoned in Jharkhand but neither the mines were restored nor the local inhabitants were rehabilitated. As a result, villagers over the years continued visiting them to extract mica.
• From sudden death owing to mines caving in or slow death because of lung ailments, the illegal mines provide for villagers’ livelihood as well as cost them dearly.
• Local activists and human right workers believe that villagers merely collect mica flakes for their livelihood whereas private contractors have been illegally mining it on a large scale in forests.

In Tisra village of Jharkhand’s mineral-rich Giridih district, about 180 kilometres north of state capital Ranchi, Shyam (name changed), a Dalit boy in his early adolescence, hustles his way through the forest area to a makeshift shop. He buys a handful of chickpeas, enough to satiate his and his older brother’s hunger after a day spent in an abandoned mica mine, which as per official records is non-operational.

It may be noted bauxite mining is restricted to the public sector and to tribal cooperatives as directed by the Supreme Court in the Samata judgement years ago.

VISAKHAPATNAM: Former union energy secretary EAS Sarma has sought an independent investigation by Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) and Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB) into the alleged illegal mining of bauxite in East Godavari and Visakhapatnam districts.

In a letter addressed to principal secretary of Karikal Valiven on Sunday, he said he has been cautioning the State government about private individuals and companies extracting bauxite in the guise of laterite r. It may be noted bauxite mining is restricted to the public sector and to tribal cooperatives as directed by the Supreme Court in the Samata judgement years ago. He said to circumvent this restriction, the private miners in collusion with the local mining officials have been producing false analysis certificates to show that the bauxite they are extracting and exporting to alumina refineries is indeed laterite. He said as per Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) report, any aluminous mineral ore containing more than 30 per cent aluminium is defined as bauxite.

However, the State Mines department has been granting leases for “laterite” mining, thus allowing the miners to go scot-free. He said there are many mining leases granted in both in Visakhapatnam and East Godavari, which actually involve illegal bauxite extraction.