Till the other day it was Karnataka which had a bad name when it came to illegal mining. But in terms of sheer statistics, Maharashtra seems way ahead – with the state registering a whopping 440 per cent increase in illegal mining cases in the last five years.
According the ministry of mines, the number of illegal mining cases detected in the state shot up from 4,919 in 2006 to 26,563 in 2010. To add to it, 20,928 cases were clocked in the first three quarters of 2011.
Illegal mining cases in Karnataka went up too – but by a considerably less margin (63 per cent). The number here increased from 3,027 in 2006 to 4,949 in 2010.
The other state which also registered a phenomenal increase in illegal mining cases is Andhra Pradesh where the number jumped almost three times from 5,385 in 2006 to 17,882 in 2010. Illegal mining has also been increasing in Haryana (504 cases in 2006 vs 3,446 in 2010) and Himachal Pradesh (478 in 2006 vs 1,213 in 1010).
Maharashtra also tops in terms of inaction – only one court case was registered during the period. In sharp contrast, there are 21,247 court cases in Madhya Pradesh which has also seen a decrease in illegal mining cases (down from 5050 in 2006 to 4,245 in 2010). Karnataka has 600 court cases, while Andhra Pradesh has none.
Surprisingly, illegal mining cases are not being detected so much in Goa anymore, at least in terms of detected cases. The cases there have dropped from 313 in 2006 to a mere 13 in 2010. Cases have dropped sharply in Tamil Nadu (2,140 in 2006 vs 277 in 2010). Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan are two other states where the number of cases detected by the government has shown a marginal decrease.
The statistics, announced by the minister for mines (independent charge) Dinsha J Patel earlier this week, are likely to open another can of worms. Most trends seem bizarre at first glance. While “illegal” mining itself can be that of anything – including riverbed sand mining, the fact that court cases have hardly been filed in the two Congress-ruled states of Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh which have illegal mining cases skyrocketing, could put the UPA on the backfoot over the issue once again.
