Category: Representation to Govt., authorities

POINTS BY BEACH MINERALS PRODUCERS ASSOCIATION TO FIMI

POINTS BY BEACH MINERALS PRODUCERS ASSOCIATION TO FIMI FOR SPECIFIC FOCUS ON BEACH SAND MINERALS SECTOR FOR CONSIDERATION OF NITI AYOG’S WORKING GROUP RELATED TO MINERALS SECTOR .

 

BACKGROUND:

The Beach Sand Minerals (BSM) occur together and consist of ilmenite, rutile, leucoxene, zircon, garnet, sillimanite and monazite. mining  of BSM in India is more than one hundred years old. BSM occur as placer deposits along the costal stretch of our country are the sources of titanium, zirconium, thorium and rare earths in the country. India presently imports titanium, zirconium and rare earths and components made of rare earth elements (REEs). The individual mineral contents vary from location to location. India has 35% of the world reserves  of these minerals.  Despite the  abundant reserves, known for more than one century, the production to reserve ratio of the country is a meagre 0.0018 against the global PRR of 0.01.  Developing this sector therefore will give  a strong focus in the development of a “NEW INDIA”.

CURRENT SCENERIO:

The government of India introduced the “Policy on Beach Sand Minerals” in 1998, pursuant to National Mineral Policy in 1991, as a positive step, opening up the sector to private participation. The delisting of  the titanium and zirconium bearing minerals from the list of prescribed substances with a recommendation to the ministry of mines(MOM) to remove these from the list of atomic minerals vide S.O. 61(E) dated 18-01-2006 with effect from 01-01-2007 or from the date of amendment to the MMDR Act, whichever is earlier gave further thrust.

Unfortunately, the MMDR Amendment Act 2015 did not take cognizance of these recommendations and instead  took the retrograde step of including even garnet and sillimanite as Atomic minerals which were never  in the list of schedule minerals or Atomic Minerals.

The introduction of AMCR 2016 unilaterally without discussion with stake holders restricting private sector participation by introduction of threshold value and reservation to public sector which denies a level playing field and annuls the policy of 1998 was another retrograde step by the MOM. The fixing of threshold value as 0.75% of monazite in THM is irrational as thorium content of monazite is only 8% which translates to 0.06% of thorium in THM. Putting the future of the BSM mining in the country based on the threshold value denies the opportunity to extract and produce the rare earths the content of which is 65% in the monazite mineral and the development of other associated strategic minerals.

AMCR 2016 restricts exploration by private entities. This contradicts the MMDR Act which permits private sector to carry out prospecting and is against the principle of natural justice.

The recently amended MMDR Act has a provision for reservation to public sector companies especially the creamy layers. Such reservation denies a level playing field to private sector companies especially and is opposed to the very spirit of the 1998 policy which encouraged and invited private sector investment in the beach minerals sector. This provision will totally hamper the growth of the BSM mining in the country

SUGGESTIONS TO MOVE FORWARD:

  1. Necessary legislative changes to remove BSM from the category of atomic minerals from part B of schedule of MMDR Act and categorise them under a separate part C as envisaged in the draft MMDR Act 2011.
  2. Private sector companies also may be permitted in mining, separation and further processing of all minerals including monazite by removing the restrictions based on threshold value limits. Suitable safeguards for handing over the thorium and uranium values to government/ nominated agency may be devised.
  3. India has 70% of world monazite reserves of the world, but imports 100% of its needs of rare earth and rare earth based components presently. Rare earths are strategic and critical materials needed by mankind in everyday living apart from strategic uses in magnets, aerospace, medical, clean technologies, automobiles and electronics. Development of the rare earth production business in India will not only make India self sufficient, but also spin off several downstream manufacturing businesses creating a platform for capital investment, employment creation under the “Make In India” program.
  4. It is a known fact that China controls over 95% of world’s rare earth supply and total dependence on China by the world is undesirable. Consequently, at present developed nations of the world are looking for alternates and substitutes for REEs. Now is the opportune moment for India to focus on rare earths production and become a leading player in REEs as otherwise India’s REE sources may loose relevance in course of time.
  5. If private sector is given a level playing field in the BSM sector and India can expand to achieve the PRR of 0.01, and value add all minerals and develop down stream industries utilising the value added products, it is estimated that such a growth in this sector would attract capital investment of over 1.00 lakh crores and create job opportunities for over a million people in India.
  6. Review the Reservation as per 17A of MMDR Act to Public Sector Units.
  7. If auction route is to be adopted, there it must be preceded by a techno-economic shortlisting of the interested applicants.
  8. Considering the “zero waste” principle, necessary modifications are required to be made in the rules to not only include all the suite minerals in the Lease deed, but also to incentivize exploitation of as many of them as possible.
  9. Most of the mining projects are not materialising due to want of Forest Clearance. Some of the areas covered under Reserved Forest require relook and denotification and if the mineral rich areas are not biologically rich, the same shall be considered for denotification.
  10. Blanket restrictions may be removed and permission to mine the deposits should be allowed in ecologically sensitive areas, except where scientific studies and recommendations of experts in the field indicate restrictions to be imposed if any, as also the specific precautions to be taken to fully protect the Environment, including endangered/ scheduled species of Flora and Fauna like the Olive Ridley Turtles during their annual breeding visits.
  11. As in vogue in developed countries, mining of BSM deposited regularly in the intertidal zone shall be allowed.
  12. In order to encourage exports, no export duty shall be levied for any BSM products.

 

Government of India failed to utilize the monazite for the development of our nation. Here we explain How?

The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) was reviewing the monazite policy . This is like putting the fox in charge of the henhouse for DAE have consistently worked to maintain their monopoly over the cracking of monazite and have also consistently used scare tactics about ‘atomic minerals’ in various forums as part of this effort.

The problem is that DAE, through Indian Rare Earth, have had this monopoly now for 60 years or more and have done nothing with it. In fact just when China started to move on expanding their Rare Earth sector in the early 2000’s DAE shut down their monazite cracking operation in 2004. They have consistently shown that they are not capable of understanding the Rare Earth market worldwide or of the opportunity that India currently has and has had for some 17 years or more.

Further Government of India Company, Indian Rare Earths Limited (IRE) have failed to deliver their agreed tonnages of material to the Toyota operation in Andhra Pradesh despite having now had some 8 years to get their operation up and running. Toyota are now importing product from Estonia to fill their plant due to the failure of IRE to perform. The extremely poor performance of IRE in this project is well known in the industry worldwide and there is no-one that we know of that would contemplate working with IRE following this ongoing debacle with Toyota.

It is a complete and utter lie that private parties interested only to want to export monazite. In fact, three Indian companies  approached Department of Atomic Energy for production of Rare Earth even seven years back.   But even after Modi Government came to power, they did not implement “MAKE IN INDIA” Scheme in this Rare Earth segment.

There is no market for monazite worldwide at the moment for there are no facilities worldwide at the moment that can in fact process monazite outside of China and they do NOT need any more Rare Earth as they have their own resources. However Department of Atomic Energy and IRE Ltd, purpose fully spread rumours that, private parties want to export monazite to other countries. This is just needs to maintain their control and watch over the monazite stockpiles or concentrates to ensure it is not exported and they could still allow processing in India. This statement is actually complete rubbish.

What it means for India’s future if vested Government interests can hold the country back just to protect their own little empire. If India is to become an economic powerhouse these vested Government interests need to be swept aside.

 

MAKE IN INDIA: POSSIBILITIES AND CHALLENGES IN BEACH SAND MINERALS SECTOR

MAKE IN INDIA: POSSIBILITIES AND CHALLENGES IN BEACH SAND MINERALS SECTOR

By SWAMYDAS. B.Sc., B.Tech (IIT)., M.S. (USA).,

Chief Adviser and Technical Expert- Beach Minerals Producers’ Association

 

  1. INTRODUCTION

Beach Sand Minerals (BSM) generally consists of ilmenite, rutile, zircon, garnet, monazite, leucoxene and sillimanite coexisting with each other. Most of these minerals occur together, their individual contents varying from deposit to deposit.  The major mineral in most of these deposits is ilmenite. The BSM and their derivatives find applications in day to day use as well as strategic and high tech applications. The exploitation of BSM in India is not in consonance with the reserves. The Production to Reserve Ratio (PRR) was less than 0.001% in the last decade of the last century and improved to 0.0018 during the year 2015 due to the opening of this sector to wholly Indian owned companies. It is unfortunate that this BSM sector does not receive the desired attention of the central and state governments due to the following facts:

  1. The revenue to the governments is negligible compared to those from oil, coal, iron ore and limestone.
  2. The strategic importance of these minerals is not explicitly visible.
  3. The huge employment generation potential is not properly recognized.
  4. The downstream industries possibilities are not recognized.

If proper recognition and encouragement is given by the central and state governments for BSM sector, it will turn out to be a successful “MAKE IN INDIA” programme. This paper presents in detail the necessity to concentrate on the BSM sector in the interest of the development of our nation.

 

  1. BSM RESERVES

Our country is endowed with 35% of the world reserves of Beach Sand Minerals. The exploration in our country had covered only around 2000 km of our coastal stretch out of the country’s coastline of around 6000 km. If the balance coastline is also explored, our country’s share of the BSM will be enormous. The detailed world and Indian reserves estimate is given below:

Sl. No. Mineral World Reserves in millon tonnes Indian Reserves in million tonnes Percentage of world reserves
1. Ilmenite 1400 593 35
2. Sillimanite NA 226 NA
3. Garnet 420 168 40
4. Zircon 243 34 14
5. Monazite 17 12 71
6. Rutile 310 31 10

 

  1. HISTORY OF BSM SECTOR IN INDIA

The beach sand mining in India is more than one century old. The first mining was started in 1908 when the beach sand containing monazite was mined and taken to European countries from the erstwhile Travancore state. Subsequently, processing facilities were set up to separate the minerals like monazite, ilmenite etc. in Manavalakurichi presently in Tamilnadu and Chavara, Kerala. Till 1965, only private players and some semi-government companies were in the field and the production and export was around 3.00 lakh tpa of ilmenite. During 1950, government of India had set up a public sector company, Indian Rare Earths Ltd., (IREL) under Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), to process the monazite being produced in the country to produce rare earth compounds and thorium concentrate. Due to the vagaries in the world market for ilmenite, the operations of the mineral plants used to be suspended when there was no market for ilmenite. This had adversely affected the operations of IREL monazite processing facility for want of feed material. To overcome the shortage of monazite feed material, the government decided to take over all the shut down beach sand operations and accordingly, the assets were taken over by IREL along with the mineral concessions and after suitable modifications, the plants started operations from 1969 and started production of ilmenite, rutile, zircon, monazite, garnet and leucoxene.

After taking over of the private industries in 1965 by IREL, IREL and Kerala Minerals and Metals Limited (KMML), a Kerala government enterprise were the only organizations in the field of BSM mining. Till 1998, these two companies were producing only around 4.00 lakh tonnes per annum of these minerals. This amounted to a growth of only around 30% from 1965 to 1998 (a period of 33 years). Recognising the potential for titanium, zirconium and rare earth minerals in the world, the GOI had decided to open this sector to private companies in 1998, since the production to reserve ratio was less than 0.001% in 1998 and the government was not in a position to invest in BSM mining.  The BSM sector was opened to private sector based on the National Mineral Policy 1991 and the recommendation by DAE after elaborate discussions with stakeholders like private garnet mining companies, CAPEXIL, representatives of the concerned departments in state and central governments with the sole intention of improving the production to reserve ratio. The primary intention of the Beach Sand Minerals Policy, 1998 and the subsequent deliberations in 2006 on the BSM sector privatisation were to bring in wholly owned Indian companies in the BSM production and foreign investment for value addition. The public sector players are in the field for almost half a century with no substantial increase in the exploitation of the BSM reserves. In the “Policy on Exploitation of Beach Sand Minerals” by Department of Atomic Energy in 1998, it is specified that “Considering the growing demand for these minerals and/or their value added products in the domestic as well as international markets and the potential available in the country, setting up of new plants for exploitation of the deposits in fresh locations would be in the interest of the country. However, this is highly capital intensive and it may not be possible for only the PSUs (both Central and State owned) operating in this field to set up the new plants on their own. It is therefore, necessary to allow private sector to set up such plants within the framework of some broad guidelines”. It is relevant to note that, private companies only can bring in latest technologies, available in India and elsewhere in the world and also the required capital for expansion of this industry both for mining as well as for value addition. Though the policy came in 1998, it took almost another five years for the private sector to engage fully and start operations. After opening up of the industry to private sector for mining and production of all minerals other than monazite, the annual production BSM in India had gone up and the present PRR is 0.0018 amounting to 80% increase in the sector in twelve years.

 

BSM AND THEIR DERIVATIVES AND APPLICATIONS

  1. ILMENITE: Ilmenite is an iron titanium oxide mineral with chemical composition of FeTiO3. The products derived from ilmenite are mainly titanium dioxide pigment, titanium metal and titanium dioxide nanomaterials. Titanium dioxide pigment finds use in paints and coatings, plastics, paper, ink, fiber and as specialty chemical. Being a non-toxic and biologically inert material, TiO2 find use in a range of consumer applications such as foods, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. Titanium metal finds application in aerospace, defense, consumer products and other industrial applications due to their high corrosion resistant properties. In addition many new applications are also emerging for the metal. Titanium nanomaterials finds wide spread applications in dye-sensitized solar cells, low-power markets to large scale applications and as an arsenic removal agent in water treatment facilities, cancer treatment and cement that absorbs pollution.
  2. RUTILE: Rutile is also iron titanium oxide with a titanium dioxide content of around 95%. Rutile is used as an important constituent of welding flux. Rutile is also used as a feed material to produce TiO2 pigment.
  3. ZIRCON: Zircon is zirconium silicate with a chemical formula ZrSiO4. Zircon finds applications as ceramics, foundry and investment casting, refractories, fused zirconia, zirconium chemicals and zirconium metal. Ceramic applications include the manufacture of floor and wall tiles, sanitary ware and table ware. Steel production and glass production are the main refractory sectors that consume zircon and zirconia based refractories. Fused zirconia finds use in refractories, abrasives and ceramic pigments. Zirconium chemical are used in gemstones, paper coatings, cosmetics, paint driers, antiperspirants, printing inks, paints and catalysts. Zirconium metal has application in chemical process industry as structural material in heat exchangers, reboilers, evaporators, reactor vessels, pumps, condensers, valves and piping. Another major use of zirconium metal is for making zircalloy tubes for holding the uranium pellets for nuclear plant feed.
  1. GARNET: Garnet is iron aluminum silicate with the chemical formula Fe3Al2 (SiO4)3. Garnet is a good abrasive and as such it is used for sand blasting and water jet cutting. It is also used in filtration, for glass polishing and lapping.
  1. SILLIMANITE: Sillimanite is aluminum silicate with the chemical formula Al2SiO5. Sillimanite is used as a refractory which are used in cement, ceramics, glass making, metal smelting, refinery and treatment, tar distillation, coal carbonization, chemical manufacture and iron foundries.
  2. MONAZITE: Monazite is a phosphate of rare earths, thorium and uranium. Monazite contains around 67% rare earths elements, which is comparatively higher to other sources of rare earths available elsewhere in the world. By chemical processing of monazite, individual rare earth compounds and further value added products can be produced and they find applications in TV sets, cancer treatment drugs, camera lenses, battery electrodes, hydrogen storage, catalytic converters, coloured glass and steel production, super strong magnets, welding goggles, lasers, microphones, electric motors of hybrid automobiles, nuclear reactor control rods, fluorescent glass, shielding in nuclear reactors, fuel cells, sonar systems, commercial lighting, hard disk drives, transducers, signal amplification for fiber optic cables, high temperature super conductors, petrol refining, LED light bulbs and integrated circuit manufacturing. These rare earth elements exist in our everyday life being present in automobiles, bicycle, cosmetics, cell phones, solar panel, stationary materials, watches, wind turbines, aerospace, ornaments, tooth brush and paste, toilet seat, soap, clothing, trains, and supplementary tablets. Apart from rare earths, uranium and thorium will also be produced, while processing monazite, which are the present and future nuclear fuels.

 

  1. PRESENT STATUS OF THE BSM SECTOR

The production and demand figures for the mineral products and value added product of ilmenite for the year 2015 is given below:

Mineral Indian production

(tonnes)

 Indian Demand

(tonnes)

 Worldwide production

(tonnes)

 Worldwide demand

(tonnes)

 Average Growth rate / year
Garnet 7,00,000 15,000 12,00,000 12,50,000 5-8%
Ilmenite 11,00,000 1,00,000 2,10,00,000 2,30,00,000 3-5%
Zircon 40,000 80,000  15,50,000  15,40,000 3-5%
Rutile 25,000 45,000  9,75,000  9,75,000 5-8%
Tio2 pigment 50,000 220,000 2,50,000 2,50,000 3-5%

From the above figures, it can be seen that India can really improve its position in the world market as a prominent player in BSM minerals. India can become a dominant player in rare earths if proper exploitation of the mineral monazite is taken up in the country. At present, being a 95% producer of rare earth elements and REE based products in the world, China is imposing impracticable conditions and even denying supply to countries like Japan. If proper policies are brought in our country to produce and value add the monazite mineral, in addition to becoming the second largest supplier of rare earths to the world, strategic international relations can be built up.

It is pertinent to note that due to the imposition of impracticable conditions by the producing countries in the world and also due to the increasing prices of titanium, zirconium and rare earth products, efforts are on to find alternates for these products. Presently, all these are very much sought after commodities as they find wide utilization in everyday life. It is worth mentioning that technological development is moving on a very fast pace and whatever material is important today may not be required after a few years. The titanium, zirconium and rare earths, which are important materials today may not be relevant after fifty to hundred years. The rare earths came into prominence during the last two decades and before that RE was not considered important.  Hence it becomes necessary for India to step up the exploitation of the BSM mining to reach the international PRR of 0.01, as otherwise India will miss the chance and the BSM deposits may be buried under the earth forever without any utility.

  1. POSSIBILITIES OF “MAKE IN INDIA” IN THE BSM SECTOR

The world wide PRR is around 0.01% and if this PRR is achieved in India, the life of the identified deposits will last for hundred years. The elements like titanium, zirconium, rare earths, thorium and uranium are strategic minerals and they occur in the BSM. Hence, in the national interest, we have to reap the benefits of these materials when they are in high demand as otherwise these materials may become redundant.

It is worth mentioning that even though IREL was the major player in this sector for the last fifty years, they do not have any substantial value addition facilities in place. IREL’s ilmenite value addition project in Orissa, zircon value addition project in Tamilnadu and the monazite value addition project in Kerala were closed down due to technical problems and mounting losses.

If the country plans to exploit the BSM deposits at a PRR of 0.01, which is prevalent in the world today and go for value addition of ilmenite, zircon and monazite, the country will benefit enormously. The likely production figures of the minerals by achieving the PRR of 0.01 is given below:

MINERAL ANNUAL PRODUCTION IN TONNES
Ilmenite 44,00,000
Sillimanite 13,00,000
Garnet 10,00,000
Zircon 2,00,000
Monazite 72,000
Rutile 1,80,000

Note: The above figures are based on the recovery figures of 75% for ilmenite and 60% for other minerals from the mine to the production.

In the case of achieving the above figures of annual production and 100% value addition of ilmenite, zircon and monazite are implemented in the country, the nation will be benefitted to a great extent as indicated below:

India can meet a substantial quantum of TiO2, zirconium chemicals and the rare earth elements required in the world and likely to become a strategic player in these fields. If the country proceeds in this direction, there will be additionally around 250 tonnes of uranium and also around 6000 tonnes of thorium oxalate per annum will be available  for the present and future nuclear fuel requirement of the country. This level of activity also will have the following financial and social benefits to the country.

  1. Direct employment:           3,00,000 persons
  2. Indirect employment : 5,00,000 persons
  3. Total Capital employment : 1,21,000 crores.
  4. Total Turn Over(annual):      90,700 crores
  5. Revenue to the governments:     29,600 crores per annum

In addition, India will become a prominent player as the exporter of TiO2, rare earth products and zirconium chemicals.

  1. CHALLENGES TO THE BSM SECTOR:

 MMDR Act Amendment, 2015: Recently a notification was gazette by the MOM bringing in minerals like garnet and sillimanite under the category of Atomic Minerals, even though, DAE had removed all the beach sand minerals other than monazite from the prescribed substances, required for atomic energy. This will definitely have a negative impact on the development of the BSM sector.

  • The present central government is taking proactive action for the industrial development of the nation. Mining is one of the main sectors contributing to the nation’s economy. With an intention to boost mining sector, the GOI came with the MMDR Act Amendment, 2015, followed by the sector-wise rules for implementation. Prior to this amendment, there was only one Minerals Concession Rules. However, now separate rules are framed for different sectors and one of them is Atomic Minerals Concession Rules, 2016(AMCR), which is for the first time in the history of India. The following are the salient features of this new rule:

 1. The AMCR stipulates that if the monazite content in the Total Heavy Minerals (THM) is equal to or more than 0.75%, then the deposits will be reserved for the government companies and even existing mining leases can be cancelled and allotted to government companies

2. It may also be noted that for all atomic minerals other than BSM, the TLV is indicated as a percentage of deposit/ Ore where as for BSM it is a percentage in THM.

3. This AMCR itself was a new concept and no such rules were existing prior to the MMDR Act Amendment, 2015.

4. If the AMCR is implemented in the present form, almost all the existing private players will have to close down their operations, which will result in huge losses to them and loss of employment to about 50,000 persons in the backward areas of Tamilnadu and Andhra Pradesh. It will also take the production to reserve to a figure less than that prevalent before opening of the BSM industry to private sector. The entire BSM industry will perish

5. When the draft AMCR was published in April 2016, the concerns of the various stake holders like BSM operators, associations and the government of Tamilnadu, where maximum BSM operations are situated were represented to the Ministry of Mines.  However, none of these concerns were taken note of either by the ministry or other connected departments and on 04-07-2016, at Raipur, the MOM published the AMCR without much consideration of the concern of the stakeholders. During discussions on this in a subsequent session in the mining conclave purely for this purpose, MOM officials present informed that they are totally ignorant about the provisions of the rules and they have come out with the rules as drafted by DAE.

6. The DAE officials, as the author of these rules, must have been available for discussions with the stake holders. MOM officials were neither ready to listen to any of the suggestions made by the BSM producers, nor to organize a meeting with the different stakeholders. It may be noted that, no discussions were held with the stakeholders before finalizing the rules.

7. If these rules are implemented in the present form, the BSM sector may go back to a stage where it was two decades ago and private sector players will neither be interested nor can survive in this industry unless level playing field is provided to them to work.

8. There is not even an application form for mining lease in the AMCR as required in section 10 of the MMDR Act amendment 2015.

9. There are many contradictory clauses in the AMCR which was indicated to MOM at the draft stage itself and yet to be modified.

10. There are many ambiguities in the AMCR.

 7.4 A typical flow chart of the various activities connected with getting a mining lease for BSM is given below:

flowsheet

 

It can be seen from the above flow chart that it takes around 7-8 years for getting a mining lease. This necessitates the requirement of implementing a sinle window clearance process.

 

  1. HOW TO MAKE BSM MINING A “MAKE IN INDIA “ PROGRAMME

 For making the BSM sector as a real “MAKE IN INDIA” programme, the following actions need to be taken by both the state and central government.

 As proposed in the 2011 draft MMDR Bill based on the recommendations of Department of Atomic Energy and the High Level Committee on National Mineral Policy, these minerals may be classified as “Beach Sand Minerals” (Part-C of the first schedule) and a separate “ Beach Sand Minerals Concession Rules may be brought in along with a monazite policy earlier proposed by Department of Atomic energy and then dropped for reasons unknown.

  • Under section 10 A 2 (c), the period for grant of mining lease for the pending mining lease applications, the period may be amended as five years from the MMDR Amendment Act, 2015.
  • To amend the threshold value from 0.75% THM to 5% of ROM as done to other minerals. If this is done, there will be substantial development in the BSM sector. There shall not be any reservation to the government sector as this will be against competition commission guidelines. Both private and public sectors shall be treated equally if the government of India is really serious about implementing the “MAKE IN INDIA” programme in BSM sector.
  • In case the government is really interested in the development of BSM sector, instead of stipulating the TLV for monazite, it shall stipulate a condition of value addition to the minerals as a requirement to issue mineral concessions with a condition to hand over the radioactive materials to Govt., of India or Department of Atomic Energy. Only if the mining concessions are linked to forward integration by making value addition mandatory for issue of mining concessions, the BSM sector can be brought in the “MAKE IN INDIA”
  • There should be a single window approach at the District, State and Central Govt. level for mining, land acquisition, and other related statutory clearances with adequate authority and delegation of powers to take decisions and dispose off quickly all the matters related to BSM mining, so that the lead time can be substantially brought down from the 7-8 years.
  • Presently, mining leases are often given selectively for one or two minerals or for all minerals. Needless to state, such selective leasing is contrary to Mineral Conservation. Hence, necessary modifications are required to be made in the rules to not only include all the suite minerals in the lease deed, but also to incentivize exploitation of as many of them as possible.
  • A stake holders meeting of all existing BSM mining companies, DAE, MOM, the connected departments of both state and central governments may be convened to discuss threadbare all the issues affecting the implementation of “MAKE IN INDIA” programme in this sector.

If the above actions are implemented, India will become a prominent player in BSM mining and also value addition facilities. All the required technical skill and financial capabilities are available with the present and willing private players in the country to make the mining and value addition of BSM deposits a real “MAKE IN INDIA” program. For making BSM mining and value addition of the minerals a “MAKE IN INDIA” program, the private sector is given permission to exploit all the minerals along with value addition of ilmenite, zircon and monazite and to work hand in hand with the government companies as contemplated in the 1998 BSM policy.

  1. CONCLUSION

The first and foremost requirement is to have an open minded discussions with all the stakeholders by the MOM and DAE to look into the negative aspects of these regulations and settle the problems, so that both private and public sector can work hand in hand for the exploitation and value addition of these BSM deposits. If the above mentioned suggestions along with some more genuine requirements of the BSM sector is addressed, the BSM mining sector can really become a “MAKE IN INDIA” programme bringing in valuable foreign exchange to the nation, avoiding foreign exchange outflow, creating jobs to lakhs of people in the underdeveloped sectors in the country, in addition, bringing good revenue both to the state and central governments. This is likely to have a positive impact on the GDP of the nation. This will also provide free nuclear fuels uranium and thorium. The ball is presently with the Government of India to take suitable steps to make necessary changes in the rules for the smooth operation of this sector where private players will have a pivotal role as earlier said, government will not be able to make substantial financial investment.

 

 

 

 

 

Appeal to Honourable Prime Minister of India to save the imperiled Beach Mineral Industries

09-07-2016

To

Honorable Prime Minister of India

Shri Narendra Modiji

South Block, Raisina Hill

New Delhi – 110 011

 

Sub:  Humble appeal to save the imperiled Beach Sand Minerals (BSM) Industry with more than 1 Lakh jobs to be affected/’Make It India’ and ‘Skill India’ vision may be unrealized

Respected Sir,

Under your able leadership, the Government is taking proactive steps for India’s industrial development, particularly via the ‘Make in India’ campaign to promote indigenous industry. Mining is one of the main sectors contributing around 2.5% to the nation’s GDP/economy. To boost this sector, the GOI came with the MMDR Act Amendment, 2015, followed by sector-wise rules. Though the Mineral Concession (Other than Atomic and Hydrocarbon) Rules, 2016 is positive and will boost development, a newly-introduced Atomic Minerals Concession Rules, 2016 (not there earlier), will totally eclipse India’s BSM industry.

Significantly, India possesses around 35% of the world’s BSM reserves. Although Indian Rare Earths Limited (IREL) was the major player in this sector for the past 50 years, they still do not have any full-fledged value addition project. As the production to reserve ratio was less than 0.001%, with only public sector companies working in this sector, the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) opened this sector to wholly-owned Indian companies to boost the BSM sector. This had resulted in manifold increase in the production of BSM minerals and some private BSM producers have gone for value addition too. During 2015, India’s production to reserve ratio improved to 0.0018 – an 80% increase. Besides, export value soared from Rs35 crore in 1998 to Rs4,500 crore in 2015, resulting in substantial rise in exports. Out of the 81 BSM mining leases, 72 are with the private sector, which is also in the value addition of ilmenite, with preliminary work for zircon value addition in progress.

The new Atomic Minerals Concession Rules, 2016 (AMCR) stipulates that if the monazite content in the Total Heavy Minerals (THM) is equal to or more than 0.75%, deposits will be reserved for public sector companies and even existing mining leases can be cancelled and allotted to these companies. The AMCR is a new concept and no such rule existed prior to the MMDR Act Amendment, 2015. There are only two government BSM players in India: IREL and Kerala Minerals and Metals Ltd (KMML), which is a much smaller player in BSM but has a value addition plant for ilmenite, while IREL does not have any.

If the AMCR is implemented in its present form, almost all existing private players will be forced to close operations, resulting in huge losses and loss of employment to about 50,000 in backward areas of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. It will also take the production to reserve ratio to an unviable figure less than that prevailing before opening of the BSM industry to private sector. The entire BSM industry will perish. If one reviews the pathetic 25% capacity utilization performance of IREL for the past decades, it has incurred more than Rs100 crore loss in 2015-16.

During 2015, even though private players were operating, India imported about Rs4,000 crore worth of BSM and value-added products. When the draft AMCR was published in April 2016, we represented our genuine concerns to the Ministry of Mines. The Government of Tamil Nadu, where the most BSM mines are located, also represented its problems. But these were not taken note of and, on 04-07-2016, at Raipur, the MOM published the AMCR. During discussions on this in a subsequent session in the mining conclave, MOM officials were unwilling to listen to any suggestions made by BSM producers. It may be noted that no discussions were held with stakeholders before finalizing the Rules.

If India achieves the production to reserve ratio of 0.01, the following benefits will accrue to the nation:

 Annual figures:

Direct employment:                      300,000 persons

Indirect employment:                   500,000 persons

Total capital employment:          Rs121,000 crore

Total turnover:                              Rs90,700 crore

Revenue to Governments:           Rs20,600 crore

Besides surplus thorium, this proposal will generate about 250 tonnes of uranium annually inside the country. Keeping national interests in mind, our association places the following requests before your Honourable self to save the India’s BSM industry in the national interest.

  • Put in abeyance implementation of the first AMCR.
  • Grant an audience to our association for a briefing on existing realities and problems.
  • Help in facilitating exhaustive discussions of all stakeholders in the BSM industry.
  • Instruct the MOM and DAE to work for the long-term development of the BSM industry without a partisan approach so that India can be an important player in the international arena.

We want to appeal that it will act as a death blow to the stagnating nascent industry including loss of livelihoods of millions living near the coastal region. As these minerals are basic raw materials for developing modern technology products, ranging from mobile phones to electric cars to defense guidance systems, we look forward to your urgent intervention to resolve this critical problem. We thank you for your time in reading this letter and look forward to your active support and guidance.

Yours truly

N.Pauldurai@Perumal

Copy of mail send to National Security Adviser to take action against illegal mining Don Dhayadevadas and his associates

From: Pauldurai Perumal <president@beachminerals.org>
Date: Tue, Jun 28, 2016 at 11:44 AM
Subject: Real fact about illegal mining don Mr. Dayadevadas, an associate of Ex.Congress Central Minister Mr.Dhanuskodi Adithan making false complaints against all other industrialists – Humble request to take action
To: psnsa@gov.in

To                                           Date : 28.6.2016

 

The National Security Advisor,

Prime Minister ‘s Secretariat,

South Block, Raisina Hill,

New Delhi – 110 011

 

Dear Sir,

 

Sub : Mines and Minerals – Real fact about illegal mining don Mr.

Dayadevadas, an associate of Ex.Congress Central Minister

Mr.Dhanuskodi Adithan making false complaints against all other industrialists – Humble request to take action – reg.

 

We would like to bring to your kind knowledge that our association is very happy with our Honourable Prime Minister’s initiative and action for bringing transparency in the mining industry for the growth of mining sector to improve the GDP of our nation. We like to bring the following facts on the Beach Sand Minerals (BSM) Sector.

 

Mr. DhanuskodiAdithan, Ex.Congress Central Minister and Mr.Dhayadevadas his political PA during the congress ruling period formed mining companies in the  name of Indian Garnet Sand Company and Southern Enterprises for carrying out  illegal mining in a big way (Ex.1).

 

This Indian Garnet Sand Company and Southern Enterprises have done illegal mining, outside their lease area to the tune of 3.93 Million M.Ton of BSM deposits without keeping any relevant records. This is the second largest illegal mining case in  independent India,  after  that of Reddy Brothers’  illegal mining to the tune of 5.3 Million M.Ton of Iron Ore. The Government directed the District Collector to seize all the illegally mined beach minerals including Atomic Minerals vide its letter No. 17407/MMD1/2011 dated 14.11.2011 and terminated the mining leases granted to these two organisations and intimated the fact to the Honourable High Court (Ex.2). The Honourable High Court of Judicature Madras at Madurai directed the State Govt., to take action in accordance with law vide its order in W.P. 175 of 2010 dated 18.11.2011.

 

This illegal mining Don filed a review petition against the said order, which was dismissed in R.A.61 of 2011  dated 12.12.2013. The Honourable Supreme Court also dismissed the SLP vide its order CC Nos. 740-741/2015 dated 02.02.2015 (Ex.3)

 

As all their leases were terminated and they had to close down the operations, they had been constantly writing complaints about other sincere organisations in the BSM sector to various agencies including the state government. It is also presumed that this group is purposefully doing this to curtail the growth of the BSM industry in India on the instigation of some Australian companies.

 

Till 1997, Australia was the top player in the BSM sector and India was in the seventh position. During 1998, when Mr.Vajpayee was the Prime Minister, the then NDA government realised that, even though India has 35% of world reserves, the production to reserve ratio was less than 0.001%.  Hence, the then government took a brave and positive action and opened the BSM sector to wholly Indian Owned companies. This had resulted in a lot of Indian Entrepreneurs entering this field, bringing the production to reserve ratio to 0.0018%. Presently our country’s BSM sector production is only 2% against a reserve of 35% of the total world reserves. Due to the bold action of Mr. Vajpayee ji, our Honourable Prime Minister in 1998, our export rose from Rs.30 Crore to Rs.7500 per year and also creating more than 50,000 direct and indirect employment. It is understood that to curtail the growth of BSM sector in India, an Australian company is using this group headed by         Mr.Dhayadevadas to constantly write complaints about all other companies with the sole intention of disrupting the BSM sector growth in India using their money power.

 

All private entrepreneurs joined together and formed one association in the name of “Beach Mineral Producers Association” in which Indian Garnet Sand Company and Southern Enterprises which belong to the illegal mining don group are not members. All other private mining lessees are members in this association.  The primary aim of this association is to aid the growth of this industry in India.

 

To make complaint against other companies, Mr.Dhayadevadas illegally registered a company in the name of “Federation of Placer Mineral Industries”, in which their only two companies are members.  When this was brought to the notice of the CBI, the CBI directed the Regional Director of company affairs to take action against the said company (Ex.4). The Regional Director also wrote to Govt., of India seeking permission to take action. Since, at that time congress was ruling at the centre and Ex.Congress Central Minister was associated with this company, they were able to close the file without any action. In fact that is not a federation but a company registered only for making complaints against others. This has been reported by various authorities to Govt., of India.

 

Mr. Dhayadevadas, who claims to have a doctorate degree does not have a genuine doctorate degree from any recognized university. But he got his fake doctorate by paying Rs.5000 to Indo Korean Christian Chamber mentioning that he had made research on the “Holy Bible”.  He is using his fake doctorate to threaten the officials and prevent the officials from taking action against his illegal dealings and activities.

 

This gentleman has business enmity against VV Mineral, one of our member companies from 1988 itself.  In 1989, when the congress was in Rule, our government deputed a group of 15 Members of Parliament to South Korea as cultural tour.  Mr. DhanuskodiAdithan was also one of the Member of Parliament and a member of the group. In the name of cultural tour, he visited South Korea along with Mr.Dhayadevadas and met VV Mineral customers and threatened them that, they are very strong political power in India and can control any makers in India. The telex message received from South Korean Customer is attached herewith. (EX.5)

 

Misusing the power of member of parliament, Mr.Dhanuskodiadithan illegally obtained certain details from the Director of Geology and Mining and used the same through Mr. Dhayadevadas for their business use (Ex.6).  If you go through the Southern Enterprises letter Head, you can find out the phone number of Chennai which is allotted by Government to Mr.DhanuskodiAdithan, Member of Parliament. Thus he had misused his MP position and government fund and the phone allotted to the MP only for their mining business.

 

Since he was influential person in Congress period as  Central Minister, to create problems to his competitors like VV Mineral and all other private mining lessees, misused his position to send team of officials to inspect all the private mining lessees and to get a report against the lessees.  However, all these inspection reports indicated that his complaints are false and these reports are still in record.

 

Mr. Dhayadevadas has filed number of writ petitions against VV Mineral and other companies in the name of Federation and through some other hooligans which all are dismissed by the Honourable High Courts.

 

Then Mr. Dhayadevadas tried to control the BSM sector by illegally capturing the post of the Vice President of Southern Region CAPEXIL. Thanks to the President Mr.Patra of CAPEXIL who refused to mend to his designs and he could not succeed in his attempt  to control the private mining lessees.

 

Mr. Dhaydevadas keeps with him retired corrupt IAS and other officials, retired professors by enticing them with money and religion and direct them to constantly write complaints against the members of our association.  This has been secretly videographed and available in our association website. You can find out the same in http://www.beachminerals.org/video-home/

 

It is also understood that even now, also he is trying to enter some committee by influencing certain officials in Delhi to curtail the development of the BSM sector.

 

By taking stringent action against Mr. Dhyadevadas and Mr.Dhanuskodi Adithan gang for their illegal mining of 3.93 million M.Tons and by encouraging other entrepreneurs to get into this BSM sector, the country can save more than Rs. 10,000 crores in foreign exchange by avoiding import of minerals and their value added products like  titanium chemicals, zirconium chemicals and rare earths. This will also result in foreign exchange earnings of more than Rs.50,000 Crores as well as getting additional revenue by export duty, excise duty, VAT, royalty etc. In addition there will be generation of additional employment for one lakh people. This will really result in helping our Honourable Prime Minister’s “MAKE IN INDIA” in a big way.

 

We will be honoured, if our association is given a chance to have a personal meeting with you and present the facts on the BSM sector. Only the president, secretary and our advisor, who is a BSM expert, will come for the meeting.  We are really interested to augment our Honourable Prime Minister’s development agenda with our involvement for the development of the BSM sector. The meeting need to be for a short duration of around fifteen minutes. Where we will be able to present the facts.

 

We therefore request you sir, for an appointment to meet your goodself for presenting the real facts on BSM mining.

 

Your confirmation may kindly be sent to our mail id : president@beachminerals.org

Thanking you

Yours truly

N.Pauldurai @ Perumal

Copy to :

Concerned official

IGSC MOA

Southern Enterprises Partnership Deed

Govt lr to Trichy Collector 14.11.11

SLP Order -740-741-2015 dismissal order

CBI and company affairs letter

Korean Telex msg 1

Ex.1 Southen Enterprise telex to korea

 

 

 

Copy of Memorandum submitted to the Prime Minister through online “Developing and Transforming India” and the Reply from PMO

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: <cpgrams-darpg@nic.in>
Date: Mon, Jun 13, 2016 at 11:39 AM
Subject: Online Registration
To: president@beachminerals.org

Dear Sir/Madam,

Your Communication has been registered vide Registration number PMOPG/E/2016/0205059 . Please logon to : http://pgportal.gov.in/ for any further details.Please quote the same in your future correspondance.

********

Respected Sir,

Sub: Submission with a request to solve the problems faced by Beach Sand Minerals producers caused by the recent amendments to the MMRD Act Amendment 2015.

Beach Sand Minerals (BSM) are a group of minerals normally occur as placer deposits. The major mineral is ilmenite which is iron titanium oxide. The associated minerals are normally garnet, sillimanite, zircon, rutile, leucoxene and monazite less than 1%.

The National Mineral Policy recognized the need for encouraging private investment including foreign direct investment and for attracting state of arc technology in the mineral sector.

The reserve estimates indicate that Indian deposits contain around 593 million tonnes of ilmenite which is 35 % of the world ilmenite reserves which was exclusively with the government sector until 1998. Policy on Beach Mineral was notified in 1998 and wholly Indian owned companies are permitted to enter in this field. Hence our export growth goes from 0.1% to 4%  of world production. There is abundant scope for improvement in share of production to the level of the share of reserves.

Now Ilmenite, Rutile, Zircon, Leucoxene and Monazite all are Part ‘B’ of the 1st  Schedule as Atomic Minerals.  Since these Ilmenite, Rutile, Leucoxene, Zircon etc., are not used for production of Atomic Energy or research thereof, the High level committee of Planning Commission request to de-list the above minerals from list of Atomic Minerals.

Accordingly DAE delisted it with effect from 1.1.2007. But in the MMDR Act, the above said minerals are not de-listed from Atomic Minerals even after these were delisted by DAE.

If Govt., of India want to harvest the fullest fruit in terms of the MMDR Amended Act, 2015 by encouraging private entrepreneur and foreign direct investment etc., it is just and necessary to change Ilmenite, Rutile, Zircon, Leucoxene from the Part-‘B’ of first schedule of MMDR Act to second schedule of MMDR Act, so that additional employment generation of one to five lakh people will be created, in addition to, foreign exchange earnings of Rs.10,000 Crores per year.

The mining leases should be permitted to recover all the associated minerals.

It is more important to allow to produce rare earth oxides by wholly Indian owned companies considering the outflow of foreign exchange in importing these products and also the strategic importance of increasing the production of rare earths, thorium and uranium to reduce the dependence of the country on other nations and make “the production and processing of the mineral monazite, a make in India program”.

We therefore request the Honorable Prime Minister to intervene in this matter and to convene a joint meeting of the central government departments and state governments of BSM along with our association representatives to discuss and take action to make suitable amendments in the first schedule by changing the above minerals to the second Schedule of MMDR Act and also for sorting out all the above mentioned difficulties.

-Beach Mineral Producers Association-

Abuse and misuse of their position of being Retired I.A.S. Officers by Mr.V. Sundaram and Mr. M.G. Devasagayam towards aiding and abetting one Mr. Dhayadevadas in all his misdeeds like illicit – mining of garnet sand, other connected anti-national and anti-social activities – Action to be taken against them under National Security Act and also terminate their pension and other retirement benefits

Copy of Complaint petition send by Beach Mineral Producers Association

 

Date : 16.02.2014

To

 

The Chief Vigilance Commissioner,

Sattakata Bhavan

G.P.O.Complex,

Block A, INA

New Delhi – 110 001

 

Respected Sir,

 

Sub: Abuse and misuse of their position of being Retired

                   I.A.S. Officers  by Mr.V. Sundaram and Mr. M.G.

                  Devasagayam towards aiding   and abetting one Mr.

                  Dhayadevadas in all his misdeeds like illicit –

        mining of garnet sand, other connected anti-national

        and anti-social   activities – Action to be taken against

        them under National Security   Act and also terminate

        their pension and other retirement benefits–Requested-

         Representation – Submitted.

           We submit the following representation and request you to initiate appropriate legal and administrative action against Mr. V. Sundaram, I.A.S. (Retd.) and Mr. M.G. Devasagayam, I.A.S., (Retd.) for the abuse and misuse of their enviable position towards abetting,  aiding and shielding one Mr. Dayadevadas in all his misdeeds such as illicit mining clandestine, transportation and unauthorized sale of garnet sand from Tiruchirappali district, Tamil Nadu and thereby render justice to us.

The Constitution of India provides adequate security of service and immunity to the Officers of Indian Administrative and other allied cadre services against all their acts done only in good faith.  Likewise, the criminal justice system  too as enshrined in the Cr.P.C. and I.P.C. confers magisterial status upon them to discharge certain essential duties under emergent situations.   Albeit these special status accorded exclusively to Indian Administrative and other allied cadre officers is tantamount to perpetuating the colonial legacy of British raj, they are considered absolutely essential only in the context of good governance and administration.  One has to tolerate whatever these cadre officers do while they happen to be in service even if their doings are not in good public interest.  After the retirement of these officers from service, if they indulge in some activities with the same old pre-retirement mind set as the agent and tout of their pay masters – other masters which are detrimental to the overall national interest, such activities should not only be condemned by the severest of terms but also such officers should be brought to book and justice under National Security Act for their such excesses.  All of their after retirement benefits should also be withdrawn forthwith in the national interest.

Adverting to the specific actions of these  retired cadre  officers concerned in the recent years, it is submitted that Mr. V. Sundaram, a Tamilnadu cadre I.A.S officer and Mr. M.G. Devasagayam, a Haryana cadre I.A.S. officer and these two retired officers who are acting as the agent and tout of one Mr. Dayadevadas who is a garnet sand mining lessee in Tamilnadu and  are aiding, abetting him in all his illicit mining,  transportation and sale of garnet sand thereby causing several crores of rupees loss of revenue both to the Central and State governments.  The primary assignments of these two officers are not only to shield and protect Mr. Dayadevadas from all his unauthorized activities but also send baseless allegation petitions against other lessees in Tamil Nadu and on his behalf, make representations before the Central and State Government authorities by virtue of their being retired I.A.S. officers on behalf of Mr. Dayadevadas.  Mr. V. Sundaram has gone a step further to file an implead petition in a P.I.L. in the Hon’ble High Court of Judicature at Madras against all the mining lessees of Tamilnadu which has been summarily dismissed after exposing his motive and his being an agent of Mr. Dayadevadas.

The Central government established M/s. Indian Rare Earths Ltd (IREL), a subsidiary of Government of India for mining and selling of rare beach minerals. The self-centered officials of M/s. Indian Rare Earths Ltd. were selling these minerals to the locals at a low price without adopting tender process regarding fixation of price for these rare minerals.  Among the various private companies which were regularly getting these minerals for such low price from M/s. Indian Rate Earths Ltd., the company called M/s. Indian Garnet Sand Co. owned by one Mr. Dayadevadas is one of them.  In this respect both the company and the Central government had sustained a huge loss of good amount income on account of the above said practice adopted by Tvl. Indian Rare Earths Ltd.  The private company Indian Garnet Sand Company, on the contrary, earned enormous profits.

Considering the huge availability of such resources of beach minerals (rare minerals) in the coastal areas of this country and also taking into reckoning the limitations in the exploitation of resources by the State and Central Government undertakings and also considering the demand for these minerals both in domestic and overseas markets, the Central Government announced Policy on Beach Mineral in 1998.  This policy has facilitated several dynamic Indian owned private companies to explore market abroad for all types of rare minerals.

The Department of Science and Technology, Government of India also earmarked a sum of Rs.10/- crores to unearth garnet sand deposits and to encourage export of them.  Various universities have carried out investigation for identifying the occurrence of these deposits and submitted report to the Government. Professor Victor Raja Manikam who is working in Tanjore Tamil University, with the help of his brother Dr.Samathanam who is working under Department of Science and Technology, swindling cores of rupees in various project names. None of the above details are available either in Department of Science and Technology or in Tamil University, Tanjore. Without any voucher, these money have been swindled by Dr.Samathanam and his brother Dr.Victor Raja Manikam. Hence a CBI enquiry to be ordered to bring the real fact about the swindled money of more than 100 Crores rupees.

In the beach mineral sand production, the countries like U.S.A., Australia and South Africa had occupied top three positions in that order.  Despite the fact that India has large resources of these rare minerals, it had once ranked 14th in the above list.  Due to the tangible and practical steps taken by the Government of Tamilnadu in the matter of grant of mining leases without any delay, India is able to secure top position at present.

After being dethroned from the top position, these countries spread a net to woo and catch unscrupulous businessmen in our country to destabilize our legitimate business in this filed thereby destroying our economy as well.  One such company which has fallen into the evil of design of the foreign countries is a company owned by one Mr. Dayadevadas who has already been an established and notorious illicit mining don in the Tiruchirapalli district of Tamil Nadu.  In order to hush up all legitimate actions against him, Mr. Dayadevadas had initially taken the help and support of a former Member of Parliament and a Central Government minister by offering him a partnership in his company.  After the said M.P. lost in the general elections thereby losing his ministerial position as well, Mr. Dayadevadas, disowned him and sought the help and support of two retired I.A.S. officers namely Mr. V. Sundaram and Mr. M.G. Devasagayam.  One retired railway official Mr.Kalyanasundaram also has been his accomplice.   Mr. V. Sundaram does not invest the money illegally obtained from Mr. Dayadevadas in India.  He has been stashing away the black money in the name of his daughter and son-in-law in  Singapore.

The primary assignment given to them by Mr. Dayadevadas is to send false petitions against all the beach mineral mining lessees except Dayadevadas repeatedly to various departments of both Central and State Governments only with the oblique motive to stop the legitimate mining operations thereby crippling the entire business.  This act will tacitly help the foreign companies to flourish in their business thereby facilitating them to restore their previous position in the business ladder.  These anti national people like Sundaram, Dayadevadas, Devasagayam, Kalyanaraman, Victor Raja Manikam, who are working against the national interest should not only be brought to book and justice under National Security Act but also the news should be disseminated and spread widely through electronic and print media.

Lot of money is being spent to engage some Members of Parliament also to raise questions on the floor of Parliament against us.  If the Parliament records are caused to be perused, the master minds of Mr. V. Sundaram, Mr. M.G. Devasagayam and Mr. Kalyanasundaram, a retired railway official behind such questions can be easily decoded.

Mr. Dhyadevadas, who is being aided, supported, abetted, and protected by these anti national retired officers has indulged in illegal mining, clandestine transportation and unauthorized selling of garnet  mineral for a tune of more than 4 million M.Tons.

In order to encourage export, the Central government has introduced ‘Export oriented unit’ plan.  There is no hard and fast rule in the Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulations) Act, 1957 that mining lease is a must or necessary for establishment of an ‘EOU’. Even an E.O.U. holder can run his/her unit successfully by purchasing the required raw material from the legitimate and lawful source of mining.  These retired officers raise their baseless and false allegations against the EOU units that without citing any rule under which they raise their allegations.

They raise false allegations that V.V.Mineral is encouraging illegal mining without even bothering to mention the details such as S.No., village, etc. from where they are carrying out such illegal mining.

V.Sundaram, Devasagayam and Kayanasundram influence certain officials of the State Government by virtue of their previous enviable key positions to act against the government interest.

In order to exaggerate matters to alarming proportions, they intentionally complain that ‘Thorium’ is being illegally exported for the simple reason that ‘Thorium’ has radioactive properties. They know that it is not that easy process to obtain ‘Thorium’ from raw monazite ore.  It requires ‘Reactors’ which can be set up only by the Central Govt.  They know these technological facts but deliberately feign ignorance in this regard. They use their brains only in a crooked manner for destructive purposes. The Department of Atomic Energy issued press release No. 10/2012 which can be downloaded from the following link : http://dae.nic.in/writereaddata/pr070512.pdf

Mr. Dayadevadas has taken photographs with Hon’ble Prime Minister and Central ministers in some public functions or a social gathering.  He uses these photographs only to threaten the officials of both central and state government to show that he is close to the higher circles in the centre. These criminal minded retired officers are working in tandem with this illegal don Mr. Dayadevadas.

An inspection team constituted as per the order of the High Court, have brought out the following startling facts and revelations against Mr. Dayadevadas, that  –

  1. i) he has obtained mining leases by suppressing several facts and executed the lease agreement without fulfilling the basic essential guidelines imposed the Ministry of Mines, Government of India.
  2. ii) he has obtained a mining lease for an area which has no sand deposit at all but contains only rocks.

iii)  He has paid royalty only for a quantity of about 2.75 lakhs tonnes but has illegally mined and transported about 39 lakh tonnes.  The district officials have seized red handed about 14 lakhs tonnes.

  1. iv) Because of large scale illicit and indiscriminate mining of Mr. Dayadevadas, the entire stream course is reported to have been obliterated, agricultural operations and drinking water sources affected, the check dams across the stream course damaged, embankments, culverts, etc. damaged.
  2. v) Inspite of these ground realities, Mr. Dayadevadas continues to carry out illicit mining in Tiruchirappli District only with the patronage and support of these two retired I.A.S. officers because these two I.A.S. officers are able to exert pressure and wield tremendous influence on the down line officers in the State administration by virtue of their former official position.

In this context, we only request you to visit the website http://mraja2013.blogspot.in to find out the veracity of our statement that these retired officers are working in tandem with the illicit mining don Mr. Dayadevadas. Mr. V. Sundaram, in particular, has filed implead petition in a PIL in support of Mr. Dayadevadas. Mr. V. Sundaram, Mr. M.G. Devasayagam and Mr.  Victor Rajamanikkam all three are participating in all the discussions and interviews against the law obeying lessees in the same news channel and print media as proxy for Mr. Dayadevadas.  This fact also can be verified by visiting the website http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gSrdBK3Tvo.

In the light of the facts submitted above, we humbly request that necessary strong action may be initiated against

  1. a) Mr. V. Sundaram, Mr. M.G. Devasagayam and Mr.Kalyanaraman to bring them to book and justice under National Security Act for their complicity, withdraw all their retirement benefits forthwith.
  2. b) Victor Rajamanikkam has worked in several central government and state government organizations.  Therefore, his involvement in the multi-crore expenditure in those organizations must be ordered to be probed by a competent audit team.
  3. c) Action maybe initiated against Mr. V. Sundaram for his stashing of ill-gotten money in Singapore in his daughter and his son-in-law name and all the black money must be brought back to India.  The concerned persons must also be arrested and brought to India for detailed interrogation and facing trial.
  4. d) The foreign company involved in such bribery must also be brought to book with the help of ‘Interpol’ and persons responsible for this flight of money from India must be arrested and brought to India for enquiry and facing trial.
  5. e) The master brain of Mr. Dayadevadas who is behind all these anti-national activities must be arrested under National Security Act.  The scope of this investigation should be extended up to the Central Ministers as well who are found responsible to help Mr. Dayadevadas in all his illegal activities.
  6. f) A blanket order may be passed both the Central government and State Government of Tamil Nadu not to consider the mining lease applications of M/s.Nila mines since the company is working in close association with Mr. Dayadevadas in all his above said illegal activities.
  7. g) Action may be caused to be initiated against one Mr. Anil Subramanian, former Under Secretary to Govt., Ministry of Mines, Government of India, New Delhi who is also intimately involved in the deep seated conspiracy with Mr. Dayadevadas and also against Mr. Ashishkumar, I.A.S., Tamilnadu who has helped Mr. Dayadevadas and M/s.Nila mines in all of their illegal activities in Thoothukudi district.

We therefore request your dispassionate action on our above representation and bring all the above mentioned culprits to book and thereby cleaning the system in the field of mining of rare minerals in Tamil Nadu and protecting all those who are carrying out their mining operation in lawful manner.

Awaiting your favourable immediate action,

Thanking you, Sir,

Yours Truly,

Sd/-

Pauldurai @ Perumal

Complaint against Sundaram, Devasagayam Retd.IAS Officers and others for abating one Dayadevadas in all his misdeeds – Requested to terminate their pension and other retirement benefits and to take action under National Security Act.

Copy of Complaint petition send by Beach Mineral Producers Association

 

Date : 16.02.2014

To

 

The Chief Vigilance Commissioner,

Sattakata Bhavan

G.P.O.Complex,

Block A, INA

New Delhi – 110 001

 

Respected Sir,

 

Sub: Abuse and misuse of their position of being Retired

                   I.A.S. Officers  by Mr.V. Sundaram and Mr. M.G.

                  Devasagayam towards aiding   and abetting one Mr.

                  Dhayadevadas in all his misdeeds like illicit –

        mining of garnet sand, other connected anti-national

        and anti-social   activities – Action to be taken against

        them under National Security   Act and also terminate

        their pension and other retirement benefits–Requested-

         Representation – Submitted.

 

******

 

We submit the following representation and request you to initiate appropriate legal and administrative action against Mr. V. Sundaram, I.A.S. (Retd.) and Mr. M.G. Devasagayam, I.A.S., (Retd.) for the abuse and misuse of their enviable position towards abetting,  aiding and shielding one Mr. Dayadevadas in all his misdeeds such as illicit mining clandestine, transportation and unauthorized sale of garnet sand from Tiruchirappali district, Tamil Nadu and thereby render justice to us.

 

The Constitution of India provides adequate security of service and immunity to the Officers of Indian Administrative and other allied cadre services against all their acts done only in good faith.  Likewise, the criminal justice system  too as enshrined in the Cr.P.C. and I.P.C. confers magisterial status upon them to discharge certain essential duties under emergent situations.   Albeit these special status accorded exclusively to Indian Administrative and other allied cadre officers is tantamount to perpetuating the colonial legacy of British raj, they are considered absolutely essential only in the context of good governance and administration.  One has to tolerate whatever these cadre officers do while they happen to be in service even if their doings are not in good public interest.  After the retirement of these officers from service, if they indulge in some activities with the same old pre-retirement mind set as the agent and tout of their pay masters – other masters which are detrimental to the overall national interest, such activities should not only be condemned by the severest of terms but also such officers should be brought to book and justice under National Security Act for their such excesses.  All of their after retirement benefits should also be withdrawn forthwith in the national interest.

 

Adverting to the specific actions of these  retired cadre  officers concerned in the recent years, it is submitted that Mr. V. Sundaram, a Tamilnadu cadre I.A.S officer and Mr. M.G. Devasagayam, a Haryana cadre I.A.S. officer and these two retired officers who are acting as the agent and tout of one Mr. Dayadevadas who is a garnet sand mining lessee in Tamilnadu and  are aiding, abetting him in all his illicit mining,  transportation and sale of garnet sand thereby causing several crores of rupees loss of revenue both to the Central and State governments.  The primary assignments of these two officers are not only to shield and protect Mr. Dayadevadas from all his unauthorized activities but also send baseless allegation petitions against other lessees in Tamil Nadu and on his behalf, make representations before the Central and State Government authorities by virtue of their being retired I.A.S. officers on behalf of Mr. Dayadevadas.  Mr. V. Sundaram has gone a step further to file an implead petition in a P.I.L. in the Hon’ble High Court of Judicature at Madras against all the mining lessees of Tamilnadu which has been summarily dismissed after exposing his motive and his being an agent of Mr. Dayadevadas.

 

The Central government established M/s. Indian Rare Earths Ltd (IREL), a subsidiary of Government of India for mining and selling of rare beach minerals. The self-centered officials of M/s. Indian Rare Earths Ltd. were selling these minerals to the locals at a low price without adopting tender process regarding fixation of price for these rare minerals.  Among the various private companies which were regularly getting these minerals for such low price from M/s. Indian Rate Earths Ltd., the company called M/s. Indian Garnet Sand Co. owned by one Mr. Dayadevadas is one of them.  In this respect both the company and the Central government had sustained a huge loss of good amount income on account of the above said practice adopted by Tvl. Indian Rare Earths Ltd.  The private company Indian Garnet Sand Company, on the contrary, earned enormous profits.

 

Considering the huge availability of such resources of beach minerals (rare minerals) in the coastal areas of this country and also taking into reckoning the limitations in the exploitation of resources by the State and Central Government undertakings and also considering the demand for these minerals both in domestic and overseas markets, the Central Government announced Policy on Beach Mineral in 1998.  This policy has facilitated several dynamic Indian owned private companies to explore market abroad for all types of rare minerals.

 

The Department of Science and Technology, Government of India also earmarked a sum of Rs.10/- crores to unearth garnet sand deposits and to encourage export of them.  Various universities have carried out investigation for identifying the occurrence of these deposits and submitted report to the Government. Professor Victor Raja Manikam who is working in Tanjore Tamil University, with the help of his brother Dr.Samathanam who is working under Department of Science and Technology, swindling cores of rupees in various project names. None of the above details are available either in Department of Science and Technology or in Tamil University, Tanjore. Without any voucher, these money have been swindled by Dr.Samathanam and his brother Dr.Victor Raja Manikam. Hence a CBI enquiry to be ordered to bring the real fact about the swindled money of more than 100 Crores rupees.

 

In the beach mineral sand production, the countries like U.S.A., Australia and South Africa had occupied top three positions in that order.  Despite the fact that India has large resources of these rare minerals, it had once ranked 14th in the above list.  Due to the tangible and practical steps taken by the Government of Tamilnadu in the matter of grant of mining leases without any delay, India is able to secure top position at present.

 

After being dethroned from the top position, these countries spread a net to woo and catch unscrupulous businessmen in our country to destabilize our legitimate business in this filed thereby destroying our economy as well.  One such company which has fallen into the evil of design of the foreign countries is a company owned by one Mr. Dayadevadas who has already been an established and notorious illicit mining don in the Tiruchirapalli district of Tamil Nadu.  In order to hush up all legitimate actions against him, Mr. Dayadevadas had initially taken the help and support of a former Member of Parliament and a Central Government minister by offering him a partnership in his company.  After the said M.P. lost in the general elections thereby losing his ministerial position as well, Mr. Dayadevadas, disowned him and sought the help and support of two retired I.A.S. officers namely Mr. V. Sundaram and Mr. M.G. Devasagayam.  One retired railway official Mr.Kalyanasundaram also has been his accomplice.   Mr. V. Sundaram does not invest the money illegally obtained from Mr. Dayadevadas in India.  He has been stashing away the black money in the name of his daughter and son-in-law in  Singapore.

 

The primary assignment given to them by Mr. Dayadevadas is to send false petitions against all the beach mineral mining lessees except Dayadevadas repeatedly to various departments of both Central and State Governments only with the oblique motive to stop the legitimate mining operations thereby crippling the entire business.  This act will tacitly help the foreign companies to flourish in their business thereby facilitating them to restore their previous position in the business ladder.  These anti national people like Sundaram, Dayadevadas, Devasagayam, Kalyanaraman, Victor Raja Manikam, who are working against the national interest should not only be brought to book and justice under National Security Act but also the news should be disseminated and spread widely through electronic and print media.

 

Lot of money is being spent to engage some Members of Parliament also to raise questions on the floor of Parliament against us.  If the Parliament records are caused to be perused, the master minds of Mr. V. Sundaram, Mr. M.G. Devasagayam and Mr. Kalyanasundaram, a retired railway official behind such questions can be easily decoded.

 

Mr. Dhyadevadas, who is being aided, supported, abetted, and protected by these anti national retired officers has indulged in illegal mining, clandestine transportation and unauthorized selling of garnet  mineral for a tune of more than 4 million M.Tons.

 

In order to encourage export, the Central government has introduced ‘Export oriented unit’ plan.  There is no hard and fast rule in the Mines and Minerals (Development & Regulations) Act, 1957 that mining lease is a must or necessary for establishment of an ‘EOU’. Even an E.O.U. holder can run his/her unit successfully by purchasing the required raw material from the legitimate and lawful source of mining.  These retired officers raise their baseless and false allegations against the EOU units that without citing any rule under which they raise their allegations.

They raise false allegations that V.V.Mineral is encouraging illegal mining without even bothering to mention the details such as S.No., village, etc. from where they are carrying out such illegal mining.

V.Sundaram, Devasagayam and Kayanasundram influence certain officials of the State Government by virtue of their previous enviable key positions to act against the government interest.

In order to exaggerate matters to alarming proportions, they intentionally complain that ‘Thorium’ is being illegally exported for the simple reason that ‘Thorium’ has radioactive properties. They know that it is not that easy process to obtain ‘Thorium’ from raw monazite ore.  It requires ‘Reactors’ which can be set up only by the Central Govt.  They know these technological facts but deliberately feign ignorance in this regard. They use their brains only in a crooked manner for destructive purposes. The Department of Atomic Energy issued press release No. 10/2012 which can be downloaded from the following link : http://dae.nic.in/writereaddata/pr070512.pdf

Mr. Dayadevadas has taken photographs with Hon’ble Prime Minister and Central ministers in some public functions or a social gathering.  He uses these photographs only to threaten the officials of both central and state government to show that he is close to the higher circles in the centre. These criminal minded retired officers are working in tandem with this illegal don Mr. Dayadevadas.

An inspection team constituted as per the order of the High Court, have brought out the following startling facts and revelations against Mr. Dayadevadas, that  –

  1. i) he has obtained mining leases by suppressing several facts and executed the lease agreement without fulfilling the basic essential guidelines imposed the Ministry of Mines, Government of India.
  2. ii) he has obtained a mining lease for an area which has no sand deposit at all but contains only rocks.

iii)  He has paid royalty only for a quantity of about 2.75 lakhs tonnes but has illegally mined and transported about 39 lakh tonnes.  The district officials have seized red handed about 14 lakhs tonnes.

  1. iv) Because of large scale illicit and indiscriminate mining of Mr. Dayadevadas, the entire stream course is reported to have been obliterated, agricultural operations and drinking water sources affected, the check dams across the stream course damaged, embankments, culverts, etc. damaged.
  2. v) Inspite of these ground realities, Mr. Dayadevadas continues to carry out illicit mining in Tiruchirappli District only with the patronage and support of these two retired I.A.S. officers because these two I.A.S. officers are able to exert pressure and wield tremendous influence on the down line officers in the State administration by virtue of their former official position.

In this context, we only request you to visit the website http://mraja2013.blogspot.in to find out the veracity of our statement that these retired officers are working in tandem with the illicit mining don Mr. Dayadevadas. Mr. V. Sundaram, in particular, has filed implead petition in a PIL in support of Mr. Dayadevadas. Mr. V. Sundaram, Mr. M.G. Devasayagam and Mr.  Victor Rajamanikkam all three are participating in all the discussions and interviews against the law obeying lessees in the same news channel and print media as proxy for Mr. Dayadevadas.  This fact also can be verified by visiting the website http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gSrdBK3Tvo.

In the light of the facts submitted above, we humbly request that necessary strong action may be initiated against

  1. a) Mr. V. Sundaram, Mr. M.G. Devasagayam and Mr.Kalyanaraman to bring them to book and justice under National Security Act for their complicity, withdraw all their retirement benefits forthwith.
  2. b) Victor Rajamanikkam has worked in several central government and state government organizations.  Therefore, his involvement in the multi-crore expenditure in those organizations must be ordered to be probed by a competent audit team.
  3. c) Action maybe initiated against Mr. V. Sundaram for his stashing of ill-gotten money in Singapore in his daughter and his son-in-law name and all the black money must be brought back to India.  The concerned persons must also be arrested and brought to India for detailed interrogation and facing trial.
  4. d) The foreign company involved in such bribery must also be brought to book with the help of ‘Interpol’ and persons responsible for this flight of money from India must be arrested and brought to India for enquiry and facing trial.
  5. e) The master brain of Mr. Dayadevadas who is behind all these anti-national activities must be arrested under National Security Act.  The scope of this investigation should be extended up to the Central Ministers as well who are found responsible to help Mr. Dayadevadas in all his illegal activities.
  6. f) A blanket order may be passed both the Central government and State Government of Tamil Nadu not to consider the mining lease applications of M/s.Nila mines since the company is working in close association with Mr. Dayadevadas in all his above said illegal activities.
  7. g) Action may be caused to be initiated against one Mr. Anil Subramanian, former Under Secretary to Govt., Ministry of Mines, Government of India, New Delhi who is also intimately involved in the deep seated conspiracy with Mr. Dayadevadas and also against Mr. Ashishkumar, I.A.S., Tamilnadu who has helped Mr. Dayadevadas and M/s.Nila mines in all of their illegal activities in Thoothukudi district.

We therefore request your dispassionate action on our above representation and bring all the above mentioned culprits to book and thereby cleaning the system in the field of mining of rare minerals in Tamil Nadu and protecting all those who are carrying out their mining operation in lawful manner.

Awaiting your favourable immediate action,

Thanking you, Sir,

Yours Truly,

(sd/-)

 N.Pauldurai @ Perumal

President

Complaint Against Sundaram Group

Respected Sirs,

 

Sub: Abuse and misuse of their position of being Retired

         I.A.S. Officers  by Mr.V. Sundaram and Mr. M.G.

         Devasagayam towards aiding   and abetting one Mr.

         Dhayadevadas in all his misdeeds like illicit –

         mining of garnet sand, other connected anti-national

         and anti-social   activities – Action to be taken against

         them under National Security   Act and also terminate

         their pension and other retirement benefits–Requested-

         Representation – Submitted.

 

We submit the following representation and request you to initiate appropriate legal and administrative action against Mr. V. Sundaram, I.A.S. (Retd.) and Mr. M.G. Devasagayam, I.A.S., (Retd.) for the abuse and misuse of their enviable position towards abetting,  aiding and shielding one Mr. Dayadevadas in all his misdeeds such as illicit mining clandestine, transportation and unauthorized sale of garnet sand from Tiruchirappali district, Tamil Nadu and thereby render justice to us. Continue reading “Complaint Against Sundaram Group”