n its election manifesto, the DMK has promised to open up all kinds of mining in the State in an effort to free the sector from the hold of ‘cartels’, and create job opportunities for two lakh people.
While the principal Opposition party’s intent seems sincere, a section of officials and stakeholders says it is next to impossible to implement the promise and the desired benefit may not accrue at all.
The DMK has accused the government of granting lease of mining operations to private operators (for mining of granite, rare earth mineral, soil, blue metal, gravel and sand). These private operators swindle large sums of money and as a result the exchequer incurs a huge revenue loss.
As a remedy, the party has proposed setting up a commercial organisation under a public-private-participation model consisting of two lakh unemployed youth, who can invest an amount not less than Rs. 50,000 each. The government will then invest a matching share of Rs. 1,000 crore. This organisation, the DMK proposes, will be involved in mining and the trade of sand and minerals. While the government will get a major share of revenue, the youth who invest in these units will get a sizable dividend as income, the party has reasoned.
However, officials say that if a proper action plan is not chalked out, it could bring back the benami system, wherein a person lends his name for a behind-the-curtain purchase. And as a result, only party men will benefit.
“Technically, the government runs the sand mining operations. There is no direct sale. It is the ruling party men who control the second sale now. If the DMK comes to power, it is possible that their leaders could control the trade,” says a senior bureaucrat, requesting anonymity.
Officials of the Public Works Department (PWD) estimate that the annual revenue from sand mining is between Rs. 200-250 crore. No one, however, knows the exact quantum of sand being mined. And as there is no official data, no one knows the how much revenue the government is losing. Unofficial estimates put the figure over Rs. 1,000 crore annually.
“Only if the State government involves itself in direct sale of sand, would it bring in more revenue and benefit people,” says S. Yuvaraj, president, Tamil Nadu State Sand Lorry Owners’ Federation, while a senior bureaucrat who served in the PWD suggests that a sand corporation be formed to curb illegal sand mining and control prices.”
“The government could set up retail outlets from where lorries can load sand.”
Illegal granite mining and beach mining also have been rampant, resulting in the loss of several thousand crores over the years. Following indiscriminate mining in beaches, the government ordered an inquiry by IAS officer Gagandeep Singh Bedi in the southern districts but his report is yet to be made public.
As far as granite quarrying is concerned, in 2012 the then Madurai collector U. Sagayam unearthed a massive illegal granite mining scam and calculated the loss to the exchequer to be around Rs. 16,000 crore. Subsequently, Mr. Sagayam, as a High Court-appointed commissioner, submitted a detailed report on it and the nexus behind it. That report too is not in the public domain.
There is a feeling among some activists that during the rule of both the Dravidian majors, there has been the lack of transparency in mining operations and violations continued to happen. Only judicial interventions have saved the natural resources from being plundered.
However, T.R. Baalu, chairman of the DMK’s manifesto committee, dismissed the apprehensions about the project’s feasibility. “We know how to plan and execute schemes. You will see the [DMK] government fulfilling this promise when it comes to power,” he said, emphasising that decades of experience in policy making have gone into drafting the manifesto.
