Illegal mining peaked after the first Lokayukta report in 2008

Mangalore Today News Network

Bangalore, July 25, 2011 : With the final report by the Lokayukta into illegal mining to be submitted shortly, the structure and process of a sordid and grossly illegal economic pursuit will be uncovered and put into the public domain.

 

Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde has given enough hints as to the seriousness of the issue — in less than 10 years, Karnataka has seen its iron ore reserves plundered and large swathes of forests and agricultural lands of Bellary district laid waste by a class of mining entrepreneurs who have become billionaires through wholly unlawful means.

 
A serious challenge

For the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and its Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa — who has personally weathered several threats to his leadership — the report will pose a serious challenge to the public image and credibility of both the Government and its leadership.

 
Poor policing

To begin with, the State has a very poor report card on policing illegalities in the sector. At the heart of the mining scandal lies complicity and collusion by the State machinery. How the protector turned predator has already been well established — both in the voluminous and detailed evidence of the 2008 interim report of the Lokayukta, and in information provided in the reports of the three Central Empowered Committees (CECs) appointed by the Supreme Court since 2009. Of course, the final Lokayukta report is expected to add materially to the role of the State and its actors in illegal mining. Indeed, it is noteworthy that the scourge of illegal mining in Karnataka peaked in the two-and-a-half years after the submission of the first report on illegal mining by Mr. Hegde in December 2008, despite his strong recommendations for action against the guilty.

 
Stinging criticism

The CEC report is stinging in its criticism of the State Government for its failure to act on the Lokayukta’s 2008 report. Although the State Government submitted an Action Taken Report seven months later, it is evident that the mining mafia had embarked on a qualitatively new phase of rapacity and contempt for the law.

 
For example, the report says that 2009-10 saw the highest spike of illegal exports of iron ore — 71.28 lakh tonnes out of 304.91 lakh tonnes (see table).
 

It further states that at a conservative rate of Rs. 5,000 per tonne, the value of illegally exported iron ore from Karnataka amounted to Rs. 15,245 crore between 2003-2004 and 2009-10.

 ‘No action taken’

“These figures starkly highlight the massive scale on which illegal mining was going on in Karnataka,” the CEC report states. The same report notes that for two-and-a-half years after the 2008 Lokayukta report, the State Government took no action to verify the details of raising contracts (a form of sub-leasing that is illegal) “though it could have been easily established,” adding “this is simply not acceptable and indicates the extent to which the rot has sent in and the vested interests have a hold on the Government.”

 The CEC report is replete with examples of administrative inaction despite official knowledge of transgressions.

 

Courtesy : The Hindu