Mines department on wild goose chase

Mangalore Today News Network

April 28: It has been a wild goose chase for the Mines and Geology officers tracking down mineral dealers engaged in the illegal trade of iron ore to the tune of Rs 644 crore in the State.

The officials, who were on the look out for these dealers, have landed in odd places like garage, bicycle shops, abandoned houses in Bellary, Chitradugra and Koppal districts. A majority of the 165 registered mineral dealers against whom notices were issued, had shown these places as their addresses, which were fake. So far, the addresses of 136 dealers has not been traced.

“We were surprised when our officials reported addresses of some of these dealers as garage and bicycle shops. It is clear the addresses are fake and they operated from different places. We have sought the help of the Income Tax department as all of them were registered dealers with PAN numbers,” Mines and Geology Director H R Srinivas said.

The department had issued notices on March 17, 2011. Of 165 dealers, notices have been served on only 29 and only two have filed replies so far. While four of them have sought more time, 23 are yet to reply.

The 165 dealers had allegedly bought 64 lakh metric tonnes of illegally mined iron ore from unregistered dealers between 2005 and 2009 and sold it both within and outside the country in violation of the provisions of Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957. The department, however, found out the illegal transaction after conducting a thorough verification of Form 100 under Value Added Tax (VAT).

 It was found that the traders had declared the transaction of illegal ore before the Commercial Taxes department, seeking sales tax exemption. The mineral traders are entitled for two per cent sales tax rebate if they sell the product within the country and complete four per cent sales tax exemption is given if exported.

With the government taking a decision to recover the value with royalty (10 per cent of total value) over this illegally transacted ore, the department has been moving heaven and earth to trace the traders.

e-permits mandatory
The department has now decided to make the use of e-permits mandatory for all mining lease holders from May 10. The present system of issuing manual permits will be done away with. This is being done to bring in transparency in permits issuing system and thereby check illegal transportation of minerals. However, the Forest department will continue to issue manual permits, officials said. DHNS