Patna, March 27: Chief minister Nitish Kumar today ordered a probe into illegal mica mining in Nawada district near the Jharkhand border after BJP MLA Pradeep Kumar raised the issue in the Assembly.

He alleged that illegally mined mica was being taken to Koderma in Jharkhand for processing. Mining minister Satyadev Narayan Arya said two mica mines in Nawada have been closed for over a decade as the lease of the mining company was not renewed. “Local tribals collect mica from the abandoned mines and take them to Koderma for livelihood,” he claimed.

However, the BJP MLA rattled out names of four persons allegedly involved in illegal mica mining and said the government was losing huge revenue owing to state mining department officials’ connivance with police and illegal miners. Nitish intervened to say that he would get the matter investigated by the economic offences wing of the police because the MLA had taken specific names.