Nearly three years since the Madras High Court passed an order, the State government has finally decided to use unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and differential global positioning technology to determine exact quantum of minerals quarried from leasehold sites by way of detection through satellites and to monitor and prevent illegal mining activities.
Replying to a contempt of court notice issued by litigant V.B.R. Menon who had obtained a court order on February 7, 2017 from the then Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul (now a Supreme Court judge) and Justice M. Sundar, Industries Secretary N. Muruganandam has said that a Government Order was issued on December 5 for the use of drones to monitor mining.
The GO stated that the Union Ministry of Mines had requested all State governments in December 2016 to explore the use of drones and share their action taken reports. The request was followed by an order passed by the High Court and a pilot project conducted by Department of Aerospace Engineering of Madras Institute of Technology attached to Anna University.
The pilot project was carried out at an abandoned stone quarry at Naduveerapattu village in Sriperumbudur Taluk of Kancheepuram district on August 12, 2017 for assessing the volume of stone quarried and the results were found to be accurate and encouraging. Subsequently, a decision was taken to allot ₹50 lakh in the financial year 2019-20 for use of drones.
The money was allocated since the approximate basic cost estimate for using the technology on 10 hectares was assessed to be around ₹1.98 lakh with a four per cent increase for lands from 11 to 25 hectares, three per cent increase for 26 to 50 hectares and basic cost plus two per cent increase for leasehold lands that were spread over 100 hectares.
Through the GO, the government had also authorised the Director of Geology and Mining to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with Anna University to avail the drone technology services.
