Mining department may take over border check posts

Thiruvananthapuram: Now that check posts have become redundant in the post GST era, the mining and geology department might take over the border posts to prevent the transport of minor minerals without a transit pass. The move has been mooted in the light of increasing instances of the misuse of mineral transit pass.

Every person who carries a minor mineral from one place to another should have a valid mineral transit pass. The passes in the prescribed form are printed in duplicate by the permit holder and would get it stamped at concerned district office of mining and geology. While transporting minor minerals, the original of the pass has to accompany the material and the carbon copy or duplicate has to be retained by the permit holder.

The mining and geology department, however, has detected widespread misuse. It has been found that fake passes were deposited at check posts. In one case, the copies of mineral transit passes submitted at the check post at Muthanga, in Wayanad, were found to be fake. When the copies of the mineral transit passes from the check post were cross-checked with the passes retained by the dealer, it was revealed that six transit passes did not match the duplicate carbon copies.

As it turned out, they were forged. In other cases, the transported minerals did not match with the kind of mineral documented in the transit passes.

“A proliferation of such instances indicated large scale misuse of mineral transit passes, and also revealed that the prevailing system was not effective in regulating illegal extraction and transportation of minor minerals,” a top Mining and Geology official said. Every movement of mineral has to be supported by mineral transit passes and in cases of sale, it has to be accompanied by sales bill of the seller.

“Check posts can ensure that a vehicle carrying minor minerals has a valid mineral transit pass, which means the royalty has been paid. It can also ensure that only one pass is issued to a vehicle and that the pass is not reused,” the official said. The audit team of the Comptroller and Auditor general, while conducting a check at the four commercial taxes check posts in three districts, found that seven out of 55 vehicles carrying minor minerals did not possess mineral transit passes. The effectiveness of commercial sales tax check posts is further enhanced by its ubiquitous nature; there are 84 such check posts across the state.