Hyderabad: Even as the Crime Investigation Department (CID) started a probe into illegal mining in the state, it has come to light that the mines and geology (M&G) department reportedly imposed meagre penalties in cases where violations were noticed. Sources said the mines department has not even implemented the Director General of Vigilance and Enforcement wing recommendations on system improvement or taken action against the officers responsible, who failed to curb illegal mining.CID,, which is probing mining between 2014 and 2024, is looking into illegal mining, right from mining, evasion of seigniorage, statutory permissions and other related issues. Even crusher units in and around Hyderabad were being probed by the investigation agency.
The sources said CID teams visited assistant director (AD) offices in Khammam, Karimnagar, Rangareddy, Wanaparthy Nagarkurnool, Warangal, Hanumakonda and Nizamabad and collected information on companies and contractors involved in mining.The sources said that, though the department has been sending notices to persons or firms carrying out mining, imposing penalties but ignored the Supreme Court guidelines, which said cost of the mineral should be recovered apart from penalties for causing damage to the environment from the violators.“The SC, in a case, clearly said that states must not forgo their due from the exploitation of natural resources. Specifically section 21(5) of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, empowers the state govt to recover the illegally mined mineral or its price as compensation in addition to rent, royalty or tax. The compensation or penalty cannot be limited to the value of illegally mined minerals. It must also include the cost of the environmental restoration and ecological services aligning with the ‘polluter pays’ principle. But it is not being implemented in Telangana along with some other states,” a retired director of mines department said. If the SC guidelines are followed, the govt would get penalties worth thousands of crores and, secondly, it would act as a deterrent to the violators involved in illegal mining, he added.For instance, sources said in one case in Panchagudi village in Nirmal district, the vigilance and enforcement (V&E) department had imposed Rs 40 crore penalty on a construction company for a stone crusher and an unauthorised quarry on SRSP land. As per the SC guidelines, the penalties and compensation recoverable alone would work out to Rs 200 crore. But the govt is yet to get even Rs 40 crore from the company.“Despite recommendations for penalties and systemic corrections from the V&E department and SEIAA, the Union ministry of environment and departments have maintained criminal silence. In Nizamabad district, stone crushers were operating on assigned land for eight years without any permissions,” KR Sudarshan Reddy, who filed a PIL in the high court, told TOI.Officials recall in a case of illegal excavation of earth from irrigation tanks in Medak and Siddipet districts by a railway contractor, a penalty of Rs 5.57 crore, cost of the earth illegally excavated from the minor irrigation tanks by the irrigation department in 2019, was imposed. But the contractor was yet to pay the penalty.The state govt had in mid 2024 conducted an electronic total station (ETS) survey on the existing lease holders and found about 170 holders were carrying out mining beyond allocated areas and evading seigniorage.
