Issuing mineral transport licences:

Mines Bureau introduces new mechanism

Disna MUDALIGE

The Geological Survey and Mines Bureau (GS&BM) has introduced a new mechanism to notify the Police immediately after issuing a mineral transport licence with the aim of curbing illegal sand mining and transportation.

The new system has been introduced since information has been received regarding the forging of mineral transport licences to transport illegally excavated sand to the market.

GS&MB chairman Dr N P Wijayananda was addressing a press conference held at the GS&MB premises yesterday.

Wijayananda said that the forged documents had been printed using a scanned copy of an original license. " GS&BM officials can identify whether the water mark in the license is genuine or fake, but the Police can hardly identify the difference between them", he explained. He said that the Police are conducting investigations regarding these reports.

The chairman observed that the data sharing system with the Police Headquarters would enable the Police to check information on valid mineral transport licenses even on holidays. He said that the data would be computerized in the near future for easy access. He said that the GS&MB issues about 1,500 mineral transport licenses per day and 30,000 licenses per month. Some of them are valid for a maximum of one month and for a day or five days.