By IANS,
Kolkata: The onus of curbing illegal coal mining lies on the states, Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal said Monday.
“The state governments have to activate their police and administrative machinery to stop the menace of illegal mining,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar organised by the Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce.
He said his ministry does not have the infrastructure to tackle such problems, but the state governments have them.
Mines are properties of the Indian government and the state governments should protect them, he said, adding that illegal activities could not flourish without connivance between the police and illegal miners.
The problem is much less in states like Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, but is more in West Bengal and Jharkhand, he said.
During the seminar, Subrata Gupta, managing director of the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation, said the problem of illegal mining is very intense in Asansol and Durgapur zones of Burdwan district in West Bengal, which is rich in coal reserves.