Illegal mining: Karnataka CM seeks Centre’s help

Caught in a bitter war of words with the state governor, Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa has confirmed allegations of illegal mining in the state and has sought the Centre’s help to ban the export of iron ore.

Updated on: Jul 17, 2010, 23:20:35 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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Caught in a bitter war of words with the state governor, Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa has confirmed allegations of illegal mining in the state and has sought the Centre’s help to ban the export of iron ore.

In a letter to Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, CM Yeddyurappa said the Central Vigilance Commission has been informed about the involvement of Custom and Port officials in smuggling of five-lakh tonnes of iron ore from Belikeri and Karwar ports this year. “Export from Belikeri port has been banned till further orders,” he said.

The CM, who has been facing the heat due to allegations against his ministers of being involved in illegal mining, said he had asked the Prime Minister to ban exports of iron ore, as it was the only way to stop illegal mining. Most of the smuggled iron ore from India is destined for China.

In the letter, he disapproved of Ramesh’s suggestion that the forest department should remove illegal encroachments saying the surveys to prevent encroachments in forest areas for mining cannot take place without specific court orders.

Ramesh in June had expressed deep concern over inaction of the Karnataka Forest Department regarding encroachments, a cause for rampant illegal iron-ore mining in Bellary district, where state Tourism Minister Janardhan Reddy have mining licences.

Karnataka Governor H.R. Bhardwaj had this week said that three ministers of Yeddyrappa cabinet were allegedly involved in the illegal mining and smuggling of iron ore.

Stepping up ante, the state Congress unit leaders on Saturday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and demanded a CBI inquiry into the illegal mining saying Yeddyurappa government was not taking action.

The CM had saidthe state CID was investigating the cases. In the three-page letter, the CM said some mining companies had challenged the state government’s action against them in the Bangalore HC. He admitted illegal mining had caused environmental loss to Bellary and Sandur areas.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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