Iron ore mining firms get Rs 140-cr jolt

Karnataka finds large-scale violations of state laws in its three districts.

Karnataka has imposed Rs 140 crore in penalties on 13 iron ore mining companies in Tumkur for encroaching on government land and dumping mineral waste, thereby causing damage to the environment.

“We have conducted a suo motu joint survey with the departments of mines and geology, forest and revenue in Tumkur district and found that 13 iron ore mining companies have violated the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964, by dumping mineral waste on government land,” C Somashekhar, deputy commissioner of Tumkur, told Business Standard.
 

THE BLACK LIST

Chitradurga has forest cover of 418 sq. kms

* There are 18 mining leases with an area of 687.42 hectares, comprising 497.64 hectares of forest land 

* Produced 6.56 million metric tonnes of ore in 2008-09

* 12 leases including Sesa Goa found to be involved in various illegal work

Tumkur has 552 sq. kms under forest cover

* Out of the 55 mining leases granted, 24 are for iron ore with total lease area of 1,203.10 hectares. Of this, 257.37 hectares are forest land

* Accounted for 2.53 million metric tonnes of ore production in 2008-09

* Out of the 17 mines surveyed, 12 found to have done substantial illegal mining by encroaching govt land over an extent of 130.03 acres outside the lease area 

* Illegally mined mineral is assessed at 1.291 million metric tonnes

* Rs 206.26 crore penalty levied on these mines

Some of the mining companies are Canara Minerals, Matha Minerals, Tumkur Mineral, Karnataka Mining Company and Hanuman Mines.

In mineral-rich Bellary and Chitradurga districts, the state government also found large-scale violations of state laws by several iron ore mining companies.

The Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC), headed by P V Jayakrishnan, had directed the deputy commissioners of the three districts to take action against these erring companies. Somashekhar said some had paid, but few others had approached the court against the penalty. Following the recent recommendation of the apex court, one more survey will be conducted soon, according to him. 

MINING BAN

CEC in its report on July 28 recommended that in respect of the leases found to be involved in illegal mining, the mining activity may not be allowed to be resumed till the reclamation and rehabilitation is physically carried out. It has also asked the state government to ensure the maintenance of safety zone area as green zone

The CEC team, during its visit to Tumkur on August 9 and 10, had directed the district administration to take stringent action against those companies under the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, 1964. As there is no substantial forest land in Tumkur, the government has booked cases against these companies under the land revenue Act.

“Mining activities have adversely impacted the ecology in the area and the agricultural productivity. Mining was done in a reckless and irresponsible manner, with the prime objective of over exploitation of iron ore for purely short-term private gains, and public interest has been completely disregarded,” the CEC said in its report.

In case of Chitradurga, more than 50 per cent of the mining area is in forest land and in Bellary, it’s 90 per cent. The Supreme Court, in its order dated August 26, had directed the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) to do a macro-level environment impact assessment in these two districts. The ICFRE team, which visited the two districts last month, is visiting again on September 12 to assess the damage.