The Andhra Pradesh government has suspended mining operations, including transportation of already mined material, in six iron ore mines in Anantapur district.
Notices were issued to the mining companies to this effect on Wednesday.
The six mines include three mining leases given to Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) and one mine each being operated by Bellary Iron Ore Private Limited, Y M & Sons and Anantapur Mining Corporation (AMC).
Both OMC and AMC are owned by Karnataka tourism minister, Gali Janaradhan Reddy. OMC has been accused of illegally excavating iron ore in areas not allotted to it. It has also been charged with laying an additional road in the reserve forest area in addition to the existing road in violation of forest laws.
The state government’s decision to suspend the mining comes in the wake of the Central Empowered Committee of the Supreme Court writing a letter to state chief secretary, P Ramakanth Reddy, on Monday advising to stop mining activity and transportation of ore from the mines.
The committee recently submitted a report to the apex court confirming irregularities in mining operations.
Under fire from Opposition parties, particularly the Telugu Desam, chief minister, K Rosaiah, wrote a letter to the Union government last week urging it to order an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into iron ore mining activities in Anantapur.
Prior to this, the state government constituted a three-member committee of senior officials of the forest department to probe all allegations raised against OMC and submit a detailed report within 10 days.
It also asked the industries department to depute senior officials to look into the aspects of alleged irregularities in mining operations and submit a report in 10 days.
The government is learnt to have received the two reports, the contents of which are yet to be disclosed.
