Mineral thefts in Keonjhar district are still taking place.
Recently, the Barbil police arrested a gang of six miscreants while they were smuggling 26 metric ton of iron ore worth Rs 5 lakh by a truck near Kasia village. Similarly the Rugudi police also seized two trucks carrying theft iron ore of 30 metric ton worth more than Rs 6 lakh this week. Three thieves were arrested in this case.
Regularly vehicles carrying illegal manganese and iron ore are seized by police and forest staff which shows that mineral smuggling has not stopped in the area.
The present system only tracks mineral transportation from operating mines through i3MS and GPS. But mineral theft and smuggling from the abandoned mines, crushers and non leased forest areas continue by mining mafias to neighboring Jharkhand in many unguarded village and forest roads along the State border inspite of laws for prevention of mineral theft.
Since the lease period for most mines is about to expire, mineral production and transportation is in full swing using all means. With the hike in price of iron and manganese, the smugglers find it profitable to use four wheelers to transport minerals safely in small quantities without being noticed. Even transport through railways also creates scope for transport of excess materials to destinations by manipulating the weight in wagons.
Neither the Shah Commission nor the Government agencies have probed into the massive illegal mining outside lease areas and transport of theft minerals through railways. The iron and steel industries are the only end users of these minerals. Hence,a backward verification of minerals quantity purchased by iron and steel industries from mines and exporters including quantity of minerals transported through road, rail and ship will unearth huge scams in the ongoing illegal mineral trade, a mining expert remarked.