Half-baked info from mining babus gets CEC’s goat

A three-member Central Empowered Committee (CEC) which is on a visit to the state, on Friday pulled up officials of the mining department for providing “half-baked information” about the illegal mining scenario in Karnataka.

The committee, headed by PV Jayakrishnan, will submit a report on illegal mining in the state within six weeks as directed by the Supreme Court. 

A source privy to the meeting between the CEC and state officials said Jayakrishnan came down heavily on the lacklustre report submitted by the mining department and said it cannot hide the real truth by beating around the bush. 

“We have come here to know the truth in a precise manner. We have given you the detailed and to the point questionnaire. You will have fill them and hand it over to us,” the source quoted Jayakrishnan as saying.

The committee met chief secretary SV Ranganath and Lokayukta N Santosh Hegde to collect information on illegal mining activities in the state. The committee spent more than two hours with the Lokayukta. 

Hegde later said, “We have shared all the information with the CEC about illegal mining and they will decide what is right and what is wrong before submitting a detailed report to the SC.”

The CEC team will visit Hospet on Saturday afternoon. On Sunday, it will visit Sandur taluk, including the Ramgad Reserve Forest.  The committee will visit Belekeri port in Uttara Kannada district on Monday, before returning to Bangalore for another meeting with the chief secretary and other officials.