)
The Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee's (CEC) interim report on Bellary in April 2011 estimated that between 2003 and 2010, Rs 15,245 crore worth of iron ore was illegally exported from the region. It recommended a ban on mining in the region.
But in its February 2012 report, CEC backtracked and recommended resuming iron ore mining in Bellary and two other districts subject to conditions. It prescribed a model on the basis of which legality of mines can be categorised and they can be allowed to operate. It also suggested ways to restore the devastated ecology of the region.
Mining companies in Goa are now going through the tests that Bellary was put through in the last two years.
Bellary to bleed again
It's sleepless nights again for the residents of Kamtur village. Located on the fringes of the Kumaraswamy forest range, one of the six iron ore-bearing mountaintops in Karnataka's Bellary district, Kamtur is surrounded by seven mines. On April 18, the Supreme Court eased ban on mining in Bellary, which used to be the nerve-centre of India's illegal iron ore mining till two years ago.
Kamtur residents say they have lost almost everything to the frenzied mining -their fields, crops, grazing land, streams and even a large portion of their common burial ground. "Mines were encroaching upon us from all sides," says N H Malleswaram, a member of the gram sabha. Most people sold their land to mine owners under threat. Those who managed to retain their land could not grow anything as piles of red iron dust rendered their fields barren. "We want to live without iron dust in our lungs," says 70-year-old Thimmappa. Like many others in the village, he also suffers from breathing difficulty.
The Supreme Court ban in July 2011 had offered them some relief. During the ban, only the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC), India's largest public sector mining company, was operating in their neighbourhood.
What attracts these mining and steel companies to Bellary is its rich deposit of reddish-brown haematite iron ore, a high-quality ore with iron content up to 65 per cent. A 2005 estimate by the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) puts the reserves in Bellary at 1,148 million tonnes. Before the ban, Karnataka produced about 40 million tonnes per annum (MTPA), one-fifth of the country's annual iron ore production. Eighty per cent of this came from Bellary.
But this was just the official figure. The actual production of iron ore through illegal mining was much more and so was illegal export. "The government took no corrective measures even after the Lokayukta filed a detailed report in 2008 on illegal mining," says S R Hiremath, president of Samaj Parivartana Samudaya, one of the petitioners against illegal mining.
The report brought to light chilling stories of illegalities, irregularities and crimes by the mining mafia in connivance with politicians and bureaucrats. Bellary was transformed into a republic of lawlessness by mining baron Gali Janardhan Reddy, his brothers Karunakara Reddy, Somasekhara Reddy, and their close associate B Sriramulu. In 2008, they became part of the BJP-led state government. Janardhan Reddy became tourism minister and minister in-charge of Bellary, Karunakara Reddy the revenue minister, B Sriramulu the health minister and Somasekhara Reddy headed the state milk development corporation.
There was tremendous political pressure on the mines department to issue new leases. Even when the state's requirement was 20-25 MTPA, IBM gave permission for 82 MTPA of iron ore. The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) sanctioned clearances. According to a statement by former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa in the Assembly in 2010, between 2003-2010, 30.5 million tonnes of iron ore worth Rs 15,245 crore was plundered from Bellary. The Lokayukta's final report in July 2011 estimated the state's loss due to illegal mining was more than Rs 16,000 crore. Yeddyurappa had to step down from the chief minister's post since he was also indicted in the report. Janardhan Reddy has been behind the bars since September 2011.
Large-scale mining in Bellary led to severe damage to its environment, reveals an environmental impact assessment by the Indian Council for Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), Dehradun. ICFRE did the study in 2011 on behalf of the state government as directed by the Supreme Court. It found 9,500 ha of forests have been cleared for mining in Bellary alone. Air has been severely polluted and groundwater contaminated with iron, manganese and fluorides. A Comptroller and Auditor General report released last year reveals increased incidence of tuberculosis, respiratory disorders and decreased livestock population in the region.
* * *
For restarting mining, CEC classified mines into A, B and C categories, taking encroachment as the criterion for determining whether their operations were legal or illegal. Forty-five mines which did not encroach or encroached in small ways outside their sanctioned area come under category A. Category B mine are those which encroached an area up to 10 per cent of the lease area through mining pits and up to 15 per cent by way of waste dumping. The court has allowed all category A and 63 out of 72 category B mines to resume operations. Category C mines are those where the leaseholder has encroached on more than 10 per cent of the lease area through mining pits and over 15 per cent by dumping waste. The court ordered cancelling 51 leases, including all 49 category C leases.
To meet the state's requirement, the court has capped the amount that can be extracted from the region - 25 MTPA from Bellary and 5 MTPA from Chitradurga and Tukmur. It says the ore produced should be used only by the steel and other industries in Karnataka and neighbouring areas. The judgement does not ban export, but says only those ore rejected by the domestic industries can be exported. It has also lifted the embargo on issuing new mining leases.
To avoid illegalities, the court has asked the leaseholders who have been allowed to operate to get all clearances afresh. Besides, they will have to implement reclamation and rehabilitation (R&R) plan in a time-bound manner. The main thrust of R&R plan is afforestation, developing safety zone, green belt, soil conservation through controlling surface runoff by building retaining walls, check dams, rock-fill dams and stabilisation of accumulated waste dumps. ICFRE is preparing R&R plan for each mine and has done it for 70 leases.
Amlan Aditya Biswas, deputy commissioner of Bellary, says the ban did not affect the district's economy much. Bellary has been an agrarian economy. At the time of the ban, some 10,300 people were employed in 70 active mines in the district. After companies retrenched workers, local residents who had joined the mining force returned to their traditional livelihoods.
The state also did not incur any revenue loss during the ban. "Instead, revenue increased even when production came down," says H R Srinivas, director of the states mines department in Bengaluru. Before the ban, IBM decided the price of iron ore and it used be around Rs 1,300 a tonne, he says. Since the ban, sale is done through e-auction by the monitoring committee and the rate was fixed by NMDC. "Average price rose to Rs 2,500 a tonne," explains Srinivasa, who is also the convener of the committee. Transport was the sector severely hit by the ban. Many had bought tipper trucks on credit during the boom to transport ore to ports in other states. "Every tipper truck employed at least three people," says B Badewali, president of Hospet Truckers Association. With the ban about 3,000 tipper trucks are now lying idle.
Goa next: will the Bellary prescription work
There is a constant fear that the model pronounced in the Supreme Court judgement for reopening mines in Bellary could be used in Goa. R K Verma, principal secretary of Goa's mines department, says Bellary lost two years trying to take a decision on ways to resume mining. A similar term could be disastrous for Goa. Verma offers an alternative way: "We will book all illegal people, but legal operations should be allowed to resume as soon as possible."
Besides, mining is the backbone of Goan economy, says Nilesh Cabral, MLA from Curchorem in South Goa. Dharamaduda village is a few kilometres from Codli mines. About 80 per cent of the 12,000-odd population in this village earned their livelihood from these mines. Apart from direct employment, several residents in Dharamaduda own tipper trucks that ferried iron ore from the mines. Some worked as drivers and helpers in the trucks, while the others opened shops and eateries around the mines. Guru B Gaonkar, sarpanch of Dharamdauda, says a petrol pump set up in the village to fuel trucks used to pay tax to the village panchayat, depending on its business. It hardly contributes now. "We understand that mining creates pollution and traffic problems, but it is a trade off we are ready to accept," says Gaonkar.
State government figures show in 2009-10, revenue from mining contributed 13.5 per cent to the state's GDP. This is on a par with the hotel and the tourism industry. This apart, the industry claims that mining provides direct and indirect employment to nearly 300,000 people, or half of the state's workforce.
The stakeholders of Goa's iron ore mining sector do not want to give up easily. They have united to form the Goa Mining People's Front (GMPF). Christopher Fonseca of GMPF says 30 per cent of the state's population has been jobless for eight months. "Environment is important but the government should think about our livelihoods too." The state government has offered a year-long monetary compensation scheme for those who lost their livelihood because of the ban.
Claude Alvares, executive director of Goa Foundation, says the government should instead compensate those who have been displaced after their farmlands have been destroyed by pollution from mining. The reason for Alvares' resentment can be found in the Shah Commission's report. It points to a number of illegalities, including mining without licence, mining outside lease area, production of ore beyond permitted capacity, and illegal transportation. CEC's interim report submitted in December 2012 reiterates most of these findings but presses for a detailed survey.
One of the most serious concerns recorded by both the Shah Commission and CEC is a mismatch between production and export figures of iron ore from Goa. Data submitted to CEC by the IBM and exporter's association shows about 40 million tonnes of iron ore was exported illegally over a five-year period. Mining companies say the additional exported ore came from overburden dumps. MoEF and the Union Ministry of Mines claim it is the Centre's prerogative to give permission for export of overburden.
* * *
The iron ore-rich eastern Goa is also home to six wildlife sanctuaries and a national park. The CEC report says MoEF has cleared 20 mining leases within the sanctuaries. This contravenes the February 2000 order of the Supreme Court, which prohibits mining leases within national parks and sanctuaries, and applies retrospectively. Violating the December 2006 order of the apex court, MoEF has approved another 23 mines within one kilometre of the sanctuaries. CEC, in its interim report, has recommended quashing all the 43 permissions, identifying those responsible for the approvals and initiating action against them.
It is not just MoEF, the state is also to be blamed for such illegalities. Of the 120 mining leases cleared by MoEF, 112 are located within 10 km of protected wildlife habitats. Many of them have approvals only from Goa's Chief Wildlife Warden. This is when the apex court in its 2006 order had observed that the standing committee of the National Board of Wildlife of MoEF had to peruse and approve all environmental clearances for projects located within 10 km of protected wildlife habitats. There is confusion over the competent authority to clear activities in this zone.
What does Goa have to look forward to given that illegal mining has taken its toll not only on its ecology but also on economy? CEC has recommended a model similar to that of Bellary, where an environment impact assessment and reclamation and rehabilitation plan need to be prepared by Indian Council for Forest Research and Education. It has also suggested a block-wise cap for mining.
Srestha Banerjee contributed to this article
Printed with permission from Down to Earth magazine
