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Friday, February 25, 2011

Declare coal an essential commodity

Feb 25, 2011, 03.00 am IST by TNN

NEW DELHI: A parliamentary committee has asked the government to include coal in the Essential Commodities Act (ECA) to control its pilferage while asking the ministry of coal to prepare a comprehensive document having details of human lives lost, environmental degradation and resultant loss to the exchequer due to illegal mining.

Coal was removed from the ECA earlier through an amendment. Now, the committee wants Centre to control its production, supply and distribution to stop illegal mining and pilferage.

A study carried out by the Jharkhand government with the help of Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad, estimated loss to coal companies to the tune of Rs 106 crore annually and to the exchequer of about Rs 34 crore a year.

In a report given to Parliament on Thursday, the parliamentary standing committee on coal and steel has said a joint inter-state intelligence and action force should be constituted to combat the problem of illegal mining. A task force in each state under the supervision of the deputy commissioner and superintendent of police of the concerned area has also been mooted.

Tags: supply and distribution, illegal mining, pilferage, Jharkhand, raw material

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