Miner worker showing stone coal
Despite thousands of illegal mines identified in Telangana between 2018 and 2022, no First Information Reports (FIRs) were lodged and no court cases were filed in the State during this period, data show. But in 2023, the number of illegal mines identified surged threefold and there was a similar spurt in the number of FIRs lodged and cases filed in court.
Chart 1 shows the number of identified illegal mines in Telangana from 2015 to 2023. The average number of identified illegal mines between 2014 and 2022 was about 5,000 a year. The Department of Mines and Geology identified nearly 18,000 illegal mines in 2023 alone.
Sambasiva Rao, the Director of the Banjara Development Society, an NGO that works for the welfare of tribal people, accused the State government of inaction. Mr. Rao has been pivotal in bringing justice to miners who suffered from silicosis due to inadequate safety measures taken in maintaining the mines in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. “When contractors got (mining) licenses for 10 acres, they would extend their activity to 100 acres or more,” he says.
Chart 2 shows the number of FIRs and court cases filed against identified illegal mines in Telangana between 2018 and 2023. No FIRs or court cases were filed with regard to illegal mines till 2022.
A government source claims that this increase in identification and action might be due to the shift in power. In the 2023 Telangana Assembly elections, the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) was defeated by the Congress.
“Most of the (illegal) mines belong to political leaders or their allies. So the BRS government did not take action,” the source says. “Since all the mines now belong to the Opposition party, Chief Minister Revanth Reddy wants to curb all illegal mining. He intends to increase the government’s income from mines.”
Map 3 shows the number of identified illegal mining cases in 2023 across States. While inaction is not unique to Telangana, it is the State with the highest number of such cases (17,938) in 2023, followed by Rajasthan (more than 7,000) and Gujarat (nearly 5,000).
Explaining why more action is taken against illegal mining in Rajasthan and Gujarat, Mr. Rao says, “In these States, mining activity comes under scrutiny from public agencies.” He alleges that other States do not have as much political involvement in the ownership of mines as Telangana does.
Telangana has also seen a commensurate number of mining accidents over the past year. According to data recently released in Parliament, in 2024, Telangana had the highest number of deaths and serious accidents in coal mines.
Chart 4 shows the top five States with the highest number of fatalities in coal mines, as well as the number of serious accidents. Telangana had 459 serious coal mining accidents, which was higher than the number of accidents in the other States of Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and West Bengal combined.
Mr. Rao says this is due to lack of supervision and safety. “Usually, small mines and private mines go unchecked as illegal mines are not registered under the Mines Act,” he says.
A series of steps are being taken by the current government to curb illegal mining. In February, collectors and superintendents were instructed to inspect sand reaches. Vigilance and enforcement agencies were asked to conduct raids to check overloading of sand. Contractors were warned that if they did not follow rules, their agreements would be cancelled and they could even get blacklisted.
Source: Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha
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Published – March 28, 2025 08:00 am IST