Illegal mining causes crores of loss in exchequer

The Supreme Court appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) has said that due to illegal mining in Karnataka, the exchequer lost thousands of crore of rupees.

The CEC, which is probing illegal mining in the State, in its report submitted to the Supreme Court, was learnt to have said that private mining companies concealed the facts on the actual iron ore excavated and exported. The companies have exported excess iron ore than permitted, the report said. The committee said that though the private mining companies had declared an annual average sale of 50 million tonnes (MT) of ire ore, inquiry found that these companies had actually mined 30 to 40 MT every year in excess of the declared figure.

The CEC report, submitted by its member-secretary M K Jiwarka, said that until July 31, 2012 about 26.58 MT of seized iron ore from various illegal mining areas in Karnataka, was sold through e-auction for Rs 6,416 crore.

Besides this, about Rs 1,496 crore has been recovered and paid by the Monitoring Committee to the government towards royalty (Rs 606.24 crore), forest development charges (Rs 594.06 crore), VAT ( 270.65 crore) and central sales tax  (Rs 25.11 crore) from these sales,” the report said.