Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh wants Karnataka Lokayukta to inspect files pertaining to mining in Bellary, Karnataka, as part of its ongoing investigation, after the Karnataka government said a company was allowed mining despite the state government objections.
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh wants Karnataka Lokayukta to inspect files pertaining to mining in Bellary, Karnataka, as part of its ongoing investigation, after the Karnataka government said a company was allowed mining despite the state government objections.
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Following a report on Hindustan Times on March 24, Ramesh wrote to Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyarappa saying the entire file pertaining to Ramgarh Mines and Minerals Limited, which got the ministry’s approval in September 2010, was available for inspection by the Lokayukta or any other agency designated by the state government.
The ministry’s forest division had approved final diversion of forestland for the company even though the state government claimed that it had failed to comply with the ministry’s earlier in principle approval.
“I wish to reiterate clearly, categorically and unequivocally that no undue favour has been shown to the company,” Ramesh said in the letter, while stating that adequate conditions have been stipulated in the approval to ally apprehensions of the state government. The conditions include meeting the requirements of Forest Rights Act and proper demarcation of lease area.
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Hitting back at the Karnataka government, Ramesh said the company had made several representations to the ministry accusing the state government of harassing them.
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Hitting back at the Karnataka government, Ramesh said the company had made several representations to the ministry accusing the state government of harassing them.
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The representations was considered by the ministry’s Forest Advisory Committee in May 2010, which said that the areas leased to the company was being illegally mined by three other companies, in which the two state government ministers have a stake. These companies have got mining sub-contract from Obalapuram Mining Company, which the ministry’s regional office confirmed after an investigation.
The FAC asked the state government to demarcate the mining area to prevent encroachments. Ramesh also wrote to the Chief Minister last year in this regard but the state government had not acted.
The ministry have, however, reject the state government’s demand to cancel the final approval for mining stating that as per Forest Conservation Act provisions, any appeal against the approval has to be made within a month. The approval was granted in September 2010 and Karnataka government objected to it in March 2011.
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.
