Dikhyaa Mohanty 
As part of its enforcement effort to stop the illicit mining of minor minerals throughout the state, the Odisha government has levied and collected a penalty of ₹40.73 crore, Steel and Mines Minister Bibhuti Bhushan Jena told the Odisha Assembly on Thursday. The authorities carried out 3,123 raids between April 2024 and February 2025, which led to the substantial fine being collected. The Bhadrak Mining Circle yielded the most sum, ₹5.96 crore, while the Cuttack Mining Circle yielded ₹3.87 crore. The Minister gave a written response outlining the enforcement actions in response to a question posed by Tara Prasad Bahinipati, a member of the Jeypore Congress.
Jena also responded to another question from Sofia Firdous, a lawmaker of the Barabati-Cuttack Congress, by stating that ₹10.13 crore was recovered in the fiscal year 2023–24 as part of initiatives to stop the unlawful trafficking of sand. With ₹1.34 crore in penalty collections, Cuttack district was in first place, followed by Jajpur district with ₹1.16 crore. The purpose of these sanctions was to stop the illicit transfer of minerals through the use of fictitious transit permits. The Minister listed a number of actions the government has taken to oversee and control the removal of sand from auction sites: Close Monitoring: To guarantee compliance, a strong monitoring system has been put in place at extraction sites, complete with information boards and CCTV surveillance.
