Illegal mining gets official backing

ILLEGAL MINING IN BELLARY PART-II

The boom in iron ore prices has created a well-oiled machinery involving government departments and middlemen to illegally extract the ore from some of the finest deposits at Sandur, Hospet and Bellary (2.5 billion tonnes) in Karnataka.

The fact of the government machinery aiding and abetting illegal mining of iron ore and its transportation from Bellary district to the ports has been revealed in an investigation conducted by Karnataka's principal chief conservator of forests A K Verma.

This disclosure, in two separate reports, notes that illegal mining is rampant on government land as well as forest areas in Bellary.

"The role of certain officials in Sandur, Hospet and Bellary needs to be investigated thoroughly, as without their connivance the systematic loot of iron ore would not have been possible," Verma says in his report.

Official sources in Bellary note that the owners of the illegal mines have promoted a parallel administration. "The illegal mine owners have officials facilitating their operations in every department. With fantastic margins of 60-70 per cent, these operators generate enormous wealth for themselves and for the officials who play along," they point out.

So systematic are the operations that fake mining leases, transport permits and other official documents are supplied to the illegal miners daily. And the transport department provides free access to trucks carrying the ore from Bellary to the ports.

"Chits are issued for the transportation of the illegally mined ore on a weekly basis. The chit is suspected to assign a code to allow free and undisturbed passage of trucks, without a proper check by officials," the investigation report says.

On an average, 7,500 iron ore-laden trucks rumble through Bellary every day towards the ports. In July 2005, the district administration recorded the movement of over 5,000 trucks on a single day through Bellary city. But how many of those had valid permits was never known.

The district administration has now set up a task force to conduct random checks of transport permits.

The boom began when the Centre opened the country's iron ore reserves to private enterprise in 1999. Consequently, illegal mines came up all over the district through the active support of local politicians.

Iron ore is extracted from ''float mines.'' At present, there are an estimated 12,000 ''float mines'' in Bellary district.

Such mines are so called because they are iron-ore deposits that have accumulated in small quantities on agricultural, forest and government land after floating from the reefs in the hills due to geological factors over hundreds of years.

Some big companies have also been accused of purchasing illegally mined ore at cheap rates and exporting it. The judicial probe ordered by the state is looking into all these aspects. It is expected to submit its report in three months.