By IANS,
Raipur: The Chhattisgarh government has not received any complaint of illegal mining of corundum, found in leftist insurgency-hit forested pockets in the state, Chief Minister Raman Singh told the assembly Monday.
In a written reply, Singh said that the government had not received a single complaint of illegal mining of corundum (from April 1, 2008 to January 1, 2011). He added that corundum reserves are found in interior areas of Dantewada and Bijapur which are the two worst Maoist-affected districts of the country.
Corundum is a crystalline form of aluminium oxide, with contains traces of iron, titanium and chromium. It is commonly used as an abrasive.
“The mining of corundum has been reserved only for the state-run Chhattisgarh Mineral Development Corporation (CMDC). The CMDC has been allotted three mining lease while proposal for one more mine is pending,” the chief minister said.