Andhra Pradesh ‘permits’ Karnataka mining

July 8, 2009

Shivakumar G Malagi

As controversy swirls over whether the Bellary mine barons will get their comeuppance in the Assembly session that opens on July 9, where the Congress and the JD(S) have vowed to take up the issue, reports from Karnataka’s iron ore rich districts indicate that permits were issued by the department of mines and geology in Andhra Pradesh to illegally transport minerals excavated from reserved forests and leased mines in the Bellary-Sandur-Hospet belt to different ports in Karnataka and GoaIn other words, some mine owners seem to have been consistently bending the rules by availing of a mining license from Andhra Pradesh but mining in Karnataka, that is, the daylight robbery of the state’s mineral wealth in reserved forests and leased minesDeputy director of mines and geology, Hospet, Siqander Basha, when contacted, claimed illegal mining on revenue patta land and in forests had been curbed in the district and only genuine state permits were being used for mineral transportation“It is wrong to say that Andhra permits are being used to transport state mineralsAs far as my knowledge goes, everything is being done in compliance with MMRD Act. I don’t know who is using AP permits to transport mineral from the state,” he saidBut according to industry sources, the modus operandi of this illegal mining mafia was to obtain permits given for lower grade ironore mines in the Kadapa, Kurnool, Veldurthi, Pellimari mining belt in Andhra Pradesh, and use them to transport minerals illegally excavated from reserved forests in Gangalapur, Vittalapur, Rajapur, Appenahalli, Ubbalagundi and other areas in Sandur-HospetIllegal movement of iron ore lumps from mines on the Karnataka border to crushing units in Malapanagudi and Siddapur villages in Andhra Pradesh is as rampant, sources said. In the absence of check-posts of the mines and geology and forest departments, the lumps sent to Andhra Pradesh for powdering return to Karnataka with Andhra permits, entitling the AP government to the royaltyA mine owner who did want to be named,claimed that apart from Andhra permits, the politically strong mining mafia sometimes raise contracts of mining leases only to encroach on adjoining mineral rich leased areas or reserved forest landThey then get permits in the names of fully excavated mines for transporting the excavated mineral. The mafia is reportedly active in the Ramanadurga hill range which has high quality iron ore and is allegedly also looting the virgin blocks or unexploited mining areas in the Kumaraswamy hill range“The mining mafia loots the reserved and virgin block mineral deposits in connivance with forest officers and the police,” sources maintainedIn July 2007, Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde is said to have written to the secretary, mines and geology, Mahendra Jain informing him that bulk permits issued by his department were being misused. A top official of a public sector mining company, who referred to the letter, said although the Lokayukta had suggested that the officers at the border check-posts should endorse the routes and also the quantity of minerals that were being carried, no action was taken.