Castigated by the Karnataka High Court for turning a blind eye to illegal mining in forest areas, the Karnataka government on Monday said it will request the Centre not to clear proposals pertaining to mining in the 36 blocks spread over 5,347 hectares across the state.
“We have not issued any new mining licence after we came to power. We will also request the Centre not to open up the mining blocks to private parties,” chief minister B S Yeddyurappa told reporters here after presiding over a high-level meeting on mining.
He denied allegations made by the opposition parties that his government was dancing to the tunes of the mining lobby.
The court, while hearing a petition filed by MSPL challenging grant of licence at Sandur in Bellary district, had ordered the withdrawal of mining leases in forest areas issued by the state government, pursuant to the March 15, 2003 notification which provided for the creation of 36 mining blocks.
These blocks were in Bellary, Sandur, Donimalai, Kumaraswamy range, Hubbalagundi, Kudligi, Hospet, Malur, Mulbagal, Srinivasapur, Doddaballapur, Nelamangala, Magadi, Maddur, Mysore, Malavalli and K R Pet.
Of the 5,347 hectares in these blocks, the forest area covered was 5,093 hectares. Of these, a total of 24 blocks were cleared by the state government and sent to the Centre for the approval of commencing mining operations.
While mining is in progress in two blocks, remaining 22 are awaiting Centre’s approval. However, Yeddyurappa said, “We will now write to the Centre seeking cancellation of permission for the two blocks and not to open up the remaining blocks.”
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Reiterating his government’s commitment to protect forest areas, Yeddyurappa said different departments like police, transport and forest have been asked to intensify the crackdown against illegal mining. In the last 10 days, the police and transport departments have seized illegally iron ore, worth over Rs 60 crore, from Bellary and Mangalore.
On the Court’s directive to carrying out a scientific study on the effects and consequences of mining in forest areas, Yeddyurappa said, “We have released Rs 55 lakh to the Karnataka Remote Sesnsing Applications Centre to conduct a study on mining activities in the state by using satellite images.”
However, he chose to remain muted on the demand from opposition parties to nationalise the mining sector. He said a draft policy on mining was being readied.
“Every year, iron-ore worth Rs 8,000 crore is exported from the state. But the royalty collected by the state is hardly Rs 80 crore,” Yeddyurappa said while requesting the Centre to increase royalty to 10 per cent. “That way, we will be getting Rs 800 crore from iron ore exports,” he added.