Bhubaneswar, April 23: In an effort to check illegal smuggling of minerals from Orissa, the state government today decided to set up a project management unit (PMU) in the steel and mines department. The government plan also includes use of technology to crack the whip on illegal flight of natural resources from the state.

The state government’s decision to bring transparency in the mineral sector comes in the wake of vigilance report about rampant loot of minerals.

Steel and mines minister Raghunath Mohanty said, “A meeting presided by the chief minister Naveen Patnaik today decided that all steps would be taken to bring transparency in the filed of mining. The proposed PMU with the help of new age technology will connect to all 14 mining sectors of the state. All transactions would be done online.”

As per the plan, all the 14 mining circles will be connected with the State Area Wide Network (Swan) technology. “Once the technology is used, any work in the mining area will be immediately reported to the department,” an official said.

Henceforth, all the tendering and mining lease will be done online.

“A truck carrying minerals will be fitted with radio frequency identity card. The chips in the identity card will carry pertinent information related to the minerals the truck is carrying. The quantity of minerals can also be known from the chips,” said an official.

Similarly, all the check gates will be mordernised. “All truck owners will now register their truck numbers with the steel and mines department for engaging their vehicles to transport the minerals,” the official said.

In the first phase, it will be implemented in Joda areas of Keonjhar districts, Korada in Sundergarh and Jajpur.

In the first phase, digital works of the 57 mining areas have already been completed.

The state government is planning to implement strict regulations to curb illegal smuggling of minerals through railway and ports.

Realising that railway route is being used to transport minerals illegally, the state government has already sought the help of railway authorities to cooperate in tackling the menace.

After the multi-crore mining scam came to the fore, the state government instituted a vigilance inquiry. Later, the vigilance recommended cancellation of mining leases of a number of prominent mine owners of the state.

The Rs10,000-crore mining scam broke in July 2009. Later, it opened a Pandora’s box with allegations of illegal mining being made against several other mine owners and the government was forced to order a vigilance inquiry into the scam. Nearly, 840 cases of mining theft was reported during the last one year and 34,638.34 metric tonne of minerals were seized in 2009-10. During 2010-10, the state government has seized more than 1.90 lakh metric tonne of minerals.

The state has a reserve of 5074.945 million tonnes of iron ore, 170.62 million tonne of chrome ore, 1805.81 million tonne of bauxite ores and 119.24 million tonne of manganese ore. It also seized 405 vehicles.