Twenty one States, including mineral-rich Jharkhand and West Bengal, have framed rules to check illegal mining, Parliament was informed on Wednesday.
“As per information provided by the Indian Bureau of Mines, 21 State governments... have framed rules to curb illegal mining under Section 23C of the MMDR Act, 1957,” Coal and Mines Minister Pralhad Joshi said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.
State governments, he said, are empowered to make rules for the prevention of illegal mining, transportation and storage of major and minor minerals, the Minister said.
In fiscal 2018-19, there were 1.1 lakh cases of illegal mining for both major and minor minerals.