Reddys guilty of illegal mining activities: Lokayukta Santhosh Hegde

Reddys guilty of illegal mining activities: Lokayukta Santhosh Hegde

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, Jan 8: Addressing reporters at a discussion held by Media Study Centre at Sahodaya on Jan 8, Saturday, Lokayukta Justice Santhosh Hegde said that the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) appointed by the Supreme Court has found the Reddy brothers guilty of violating mining laws along the Karnataka – Andhra Pradesh border and recommended cancelling their mining licenses.

 

 

 

 

He also added that the Lokayukta’s illegal mining report of 2008 had made similar observations regarding illegal mining in Bellary and the open violation of mining laws along the Karnataka – Andhra Pradesh border by the Reddy brothers.

Dr. U. V. Singh, the chief investigator of the mining scams, said that there was enough evidence pointing to the Reddy brothers’ involvement in illegal mining activities. Dr. Singh had observed that the Obulapuram villages of Karnataka do not have ground inter-state boundaries. Recommending the immediate curbing of all illegal mining activities, Dr. Singh has also said that strict legal action should be taken against the Reddy brothers. He also recommends that the state government should approach the Supreme Court and the central government to further probe the issue as it is inter-state in nature.

Lokayukta Santhosh Hegde said that the state had approached the centre, but a public interest litigation (PIL) was filed in the apex court seeking CEC investigation, as a result of which the CEC submitted the report. He added that he was satisfied with the report.

The report states that OMC is engaged in mining activities in Ananthapura district of Andhra Pradesh and that OMC encroached into the state’s forest areas, is involved in illegal mining and transportation of iron ore. The OMC is also guilty of encroaching mining area outside their contracts and undertaking large-scale illegal mining in reserved forest areas.

 

Stressing on the importance of banning the export of iron ore, he said that iron ore is exhaustible and in the next 25 – 30 years, it will be totally exhausted if extraction of ore goes on at this rate. In 2000, iron ore did not have that much value, he said, adding that demand for iron ore shot up when China hosted the Olympics, making the cost of iron ore Rs. 10,000 per metric ton from a mere Rs. 120. The mining lobby has been cheating the state government by paying a royalty of only Rs. 27.

Justice Hegde also said that, during this period, many people applied for mining licenses, causing the extension of the activity even into reserved forest areas. Surveys were not done accurately, and the central government did not approve a number of mining activities, he said, adding that mining in Bellary and other parts of Karnataka is definitely illegal. He also said that the causes for the bad condition of the roads in Karnataka are lorries overloaded with iron ore, informing that a lorry has a capacity of only 16 tons of iron ore, but is crammed with over 24 tons at a time.