The Supreme Court-appointed central empowered committee on environmental issues has confirmed that country’s minerals are being looted. In a 143-page report, a copy of which is available with DNA and was submitted to the apex court on Saturday, has recommended that 49 mining leases out of 166 survyed in Karnataka be cancelled.
The report blows the lid off the mining scam and says this rampant illegal activity has “perhaps may have no other parallel in the country.” These mines, operating in Bellary, Chitradurga and Tumkur districts of Karnataka thrived because of the “blatant connivance of the officials concerned and public functionaries.”
The report observed “there has been all round sharp degradation of environment with all its attendant problems because of the unsatiable greed of a few.”
Of the 166 mining leases surveyed, the CEC found that at least 123 were involved in illegal mining. The SC will now take up the case on Friday.
The panel divided the companies involved in mining in these three districts in A, B and C categories. The committee has not only recommended cancellation of licenses of 49 companies (in category C), but also vouched for an exemplary penalty and compensation depending upon the level of illegalities found.
Of the 166 mining leases, 45 were placed in category A where no illegality was found. The panel recommended that they may be allowed to resume mining operations subject to several conditions and that iron ore becoming available from them is only used for steel plants and associated industries in Karnataka and adjoining states.
Similarly, 72 mining leases were put in category B and, wherein illegal mining - by way of mining pits being outside the sanctioned lease areas — was found to be up to 10% of the lease area. For areas where it was found to be over 10% and involved in violation of Forest (Conservation) Act- it was categoried as C.
For B category, the panel recommended a penalty of Rs5 crore for per hectare of the area found to be under the illegal mining pit and of Rs one crore per hectare of area for illegal mining by way of over burden dumps. But it said that the “mining operations may be allowed to resume after penalty decided by SC is deposited and Reclamation and Rehabilitation (R&R) plan is undertaken beside several other conditions.
However, the panel did not spare C category companies. It not only recommended cancellation of their leases but also advocated for retaining of the entire sale proceeds of the existing stock of the iron ore of these leases. It also said the entire R&R plan should be at the cost of the lessee.
The CEC also prescribed a ceiling of 25 Million Metric Tonnes (MMT) for total production of iron ore from all the mining leases in Bellary and of 5 MMT from all the mining leases in Chitradurga and Tumkur together.
Besides, the panel recommended creation of a Special purpose Vehicle under chairmanship of Karnataka’s chief secretary for taking “ameliorative and mitigative measures” in the three districts. The CEC opined that resources mobilised by allotment of cancelled mining leases, by penalty received from the defaulting lessee and from those mining leases falling in Category A&B should be transferred to this SPV and used for socio-economic development of the local area, infrastructure development and forest conservation.
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