Tamil Nadu Cracks Down on Illegal Mining, Orders Five Firms to Pay ₹2,002 Crore

The Tamil Nadu government has ordered payment of ₹2,002.7 crore in the form of royalties and cost of minerals to five companies involved in illegal beach sand mining, charged with trespassing at Thoothukudi port and illegally extracting 17.61 lakh tonnes of minerals from January 2014 to December 2016.

The Madras High Court had also ordered a CBI probe into the case. The order, released by the Thoothukudi collector on February 10, comes as part of a larger effort in this direction by the state government to recover ₹5,832 crore from mining companies that were said to have mined excess beach sand minerals such as Garnet, Ilmenite, Rutile, Zircon, Sillimanite and Leucoxene from the coast between 2002 and 2016.

According to an amicus curiae report prepared by Dr. V. Suresh, appointed by the Madras High Court, over 88.4 lakh tonnes of raw sand were illegally transported. The Tamil Nadu government had imposed a mining ban in 2013, yet violations continued post-ban, leading to the latest penalties.

The five companies facing penalties include VV Minerals, the largest offender, which has been ordered to pay ₹913.03 crore. Tvl Industrial Mineral Company must pay ₹276.08 crore, Transworld Garnet India Pvt Ltd ₹196.66 crore, Beach Minerals Sands Company ₹425.64 crore, and Indian Ocean Garnet Sands Company ₹191.29 crore. These amounts are calculated based on data provided by the Assistant Commissioner of Customs, Thoothukudi.

While previous orders in December 2023 targeted illegal mining before the ban (2013), the February 10 orders focused on violations after the ban was enforced. The recovery proceedings have been initiated under Section 21(5) of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957. Authorities have also reserved the right to take further action against illegal exports made through ports other than Thoothukudi.

Show-cause notices were issued to the firms in January 2024 based on reports by the amicus curiae and a special committee led by senior IAS officer Gagandeep Singh Bedi. The government is now pushing forward with its ₹5,832 crore recovery drive while the CBI probe is set to uncover further details.