Joda: Amid reports about faulty GPS tracking of mineral ores transporting trucks in Keonjhar district, hundreds of truck owners held protests outside the office of the Joda mining circle deputy director Saturday.
Hundreds of trucks of the Joda Mining Area Truck Owners’ Association have been facing problems in transporting minerals as their Global Positioning System (GPS) devices were not working.
The authorities of mines did not give truck owners permission to transport minerals for about a month due to the defunct GPS devices in trucks. As a result thousands of truckers had lost business.
With no way out, truck owners met the deputy director of the Joda mining circle, LD Nayak, and told him about the GPS snag.
Truck owners Haladhar Sahu, Jayant Behera, Sohaib Khan, Sanjay Patra, Ratnsakar Rout, Babi Ray and Sanjay Lakra told the media that they had given a memorandum to Nayak.
After this, Nayak permitted mineral transportation by trucks without GPS tagging. Mining companies have been asked to allow mineral transportation in trucks without GPS. He also said that he would meet the Transport Commissioner and tell him about the GPS problem.
Truck owners expressed their displeasure at the fact that they have to pay an annual renewal fee for GPS tagging, but their trucks are not tagged.
Asked about the GPS snag, Nayak said that under the Integrated Mines Minerals Management System (i3ms), there is a need for reports by RTOs about GPS tagging of mineral transporting vehicles.
“We are telling RTOs to do the needful. The period for GPS tagging of vehicles has expired. As for defects in GPS devices, authorised vendors have been asked to hold camps and repair the snags,” he added.
GPS was made mandatory for all vehicles transporting minerals, but the system flopped in the Joda mining circle. Orissa POST had carried a report about it a few weeks ago. GPS devices are sold by middlemen here.
The government had insisted on installing GPS devices in trucks to check illegal mineral extraction and transportation. The Integrated Mines Mineral Management System (I3Ms) was put in place to track the movement of mineral ore-laden trucks.
As per this rule, trucks are registered with i3Ms and have to use government-approved GPS devices. The reports had pointed out that the system failed due to a conspiracy by unscrupulous mining officials and middlemen.
The result is that transportation of illegally mined mineral ore is still going on in the district.
PNN