Jammu: Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo on Tuesday reviewed the ongoing reforms in the mining sector and called for strengthening surveillance mechanisms to curb illegal mining across the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
The review meeting was attended by Additional Chief Secretary, Mining; Chairperson of the Jammu and Kashmir Pollution Control Committee; Divisional Commissioners of Jammu and Kashmir; Secretary IT; IGP Jammu; Managing Director of Jammu and Kashmir Minerals Limited; Director Geology and Mining and other senior officers. Deputy Commissioners of various districts also joined the meeting through video conferencing.
During the meeting, the Chief Secretary assessed progress on reforms aimed at improving surveillance, preventing illegal extraction of minerals and enhancing revenue generation from the mining sector.
He also took a live demonstration of the Integrated Mining Surveillance System (IMSS), a digital platform designed to monitor the movement of vehicles transporting mining material across districts of the Union Territory. While appreciating the initiative, Dulloo observed that further improvements were required to ensure stricter checks against illegal mining activities.
Emphasizing the need for a stronger technological framework, he directed the department to share a clear problem statement with BISAG-N so that appropriate triggers could be developed to detect illegal mining or extraction beyond permissible areas. He also asked the department to increase the frequency of automated alerts to weekly intervals to enable timely corrective action on the ground and to specify a clear timeline for upgrading the surveillance system.
Reviewing the progress of e-auctioning of mineral blocks, the Chief Secretary stressed the need to closely follow up pending matters with the concerned Union Ministry to ensure timely completion of the process. He also interacted with Deputy Commissioners regarding the status of clearances for identified minor mineral blocks in their respective districts and urged them to expedite approvals.
He reviewed cases pending at different stages, including those awaiting Environmental Impact Assessment, approvals from the Pollution Control Committee and forest clearances.
Stressing the need to augment the availability of construction material and increase revenue generation, Dulloo directed officers to examine each pending case on priority and explore possibilities of operationalizing all non-operational minor mineral blocks across districts.
Additional Chief Secretary, Mining Ashwani Kumar informed the meeting that the department is upgrading the IMSS in coordination with BISAG-N and working to strengthen both surveillance and enforcement mechanisms to regulate the sector and prevent illegal mining.
He said the IMSS dashboard is being integrated with the e-challan and e-market systems, which will allow generation of alerts at shorter intervals and enable swift action by field officials.
Earlier, Director Geology and Mining S.P. Rukwal gave a detailed presentation on the status of mining activities across Jammu and Kashmir. He informed that investigations related to minerals such as graphite, granite, sapphire, shallow gas and lithium are currently underway.
The meeting was informed that out of 235 identified minor mineral blocks in the UT, 81 are currently operational. Extension of Letters of Intent (LoIs) has been issued for 10 blocks, while eight cases are pending before the competent authorities for issuance of LoIs. Mining leases for four blocks are expected to be granted shortly, which are projected to generate around ₹57 crore in revenue for the UT.
Regarding new blocks, it was informed that seven minor mineral blocks have been auctioned in Anantnag, while 22 more are in the pipeline and 47 blocks are awaiting No Objection Certificates from different departments.
The meeting was also informed that 3,942 vehicles involved in mining activities have been fitted with GPS tracking devices, of which 3,515 have already been integrated with the IMSS platform, while the remaining will be integrated shortly.
Officials further stated that enforcement measures have led to realization of ₹1.10 crore as penalty from violators, with on-spot penalties being collected through PoS machines to ensure transparency.
It was also revealed that the mining sector has generated ₹137.27 crore in revenue during the first two months of 2026, while several additional measures, including revision of penalties and operationalization of minor mineral leases, are being pursued to further enhance revenue in the coming months.
