The Odisha-Jharkhand inter-State coordination committee meeting to curb theft of minerals along the border areas would be held on Friday at Chaibasa of Jharkhand.
The Home Secretaries of both States would attend the meeting, sources said, adding that some other top officials including the Directors of Mines and top officials of the commerce and transport departments would also take part in the meeting. The meeting is likely to chalk our effective plans to curb illegal mining in the areas bordering the two States.
Besides, the achievements since the August 2012 meeting of the coordination committee, which was hosted by Odisha in Keonjhar, would be assessed at this the meeting.
According to a senior official, the first such meeting was organised on February 2 last year. The officials would also go into the issues like giving more power to the enforcement squads constituted under the Directors of Mines to conduct regular raids on illegal mining. Special emphasis may also be laid on checking illegally-mined ores through railway and other means of transportation.