Sat-based surveillance explored to curb illegal mining

THE Tamil Nadu government has informed the Madras High Court that the options for using the satellite-based mining surveillance system are being explored for bringing the minor minerals mining on the state radar.

- EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE @ Chennai

The submission was made before a special bench of Justices N Sathish Kumar and D Bharatha Chakravarthy recently when a batch of petitions on forest-related matters came up for hearing.

The Commissioner of Geology and Mining has written to the Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Application and Geo-informatics (BISAG) in Gujarat asking it whether the remote sensing satellite-based 'mining surveillance system' can be used for keeping vigil on mining of minor minerals and eco-sensitive zones such as hill areas in Coimbatore, Dindigul, Karur, Salem, Namakkal, Tiruvannamalai and other districts.