BANGALORE: Iron ore mines belonging to top netas in the state are among the 51 whose licences were terminated by the government.
Abiding by a Supreme Court directive, the department of commerce and industries (mines) has issued a notification cancelling 51 iron ore mining leases under category C. This means, the state government has taken complete control of these 51 mines under category C.
VSL Mining Company, allegedly belonging to information and infrastructure minister Santosh Lad, figures in the list of cancelled mines. When contacted Lad said that he has nothing to do with VSL Mining Company and his name is wrongly linked with illegal mining. “I have filed a petition before SC. At this moment I cannot explain everything as the matter is pending in the apex court,” he told TOI.
SB Minerals, owned by MLA and former minister Anand Singh, Associated Mining Company of former minister G Janardhan Reddy, and Matha Mining Company in which kin of the former minister V Somanna is said to have shares, are among the prominent mines that have been cancelled. The government has also terminated the permits of Bharat Mines and Minerals, Latha Mining Company, Deccan Mining Syndicate and Trident Minerals.
The SC, on April 18, 2013, ordered the cancellation of mining leases of 51 mining companies for carrying out rampant mining illegally outside the lease area in the districts of Bellary, Tumkur and Chitradurga. The order had followed the report of the Central Empowered Committee (CEC), which had categorized 166 mining leases based in Karnataka, on the extent of violations of the mining rules. It had classified 45 mining leases under category A, 72 under category B and 49 under category C. Subsequently, the court had ordered for shifting two more mines from category B to category C.
Category C mines are classified based on the extent of illegal mining of 10-15 per cent outside the lease areas. Prior to the ban on mining in the state, these leases accounted for about 15 million tonnes of iron ore production. The apex court had also ordered the re-allotment of category C mines to steel mills for captive consumption through a transparent process. The state government has constituted a committee to finalize the modalities of re-allotting these 51 mining leases.
Presently, only 13 mining leases (11 from category A and two from category B) have restarted mining in the state. The monitoring committee, constituted by the CEC, sells the ore extracted by these mines to steel mills through e-auctions.
TOI
Leave a Reply