Bellary:
It has been a week since the Supreme Court ordered all mining and transportation of iron ore in Bellary to be stopped, but corporates just keep brazenly defying the apex court's order. Today, 2000 metric tonnes of the ore was seized in Sandur by Bellary's mobile squad.
On Monday, nearly 15,000 tonnes of the ore was seized from the district in six different raids.
The blatant violation of rules and orders had, in fact, prompted Karnataka's Lokayukta or Ombudsman Justice Santosh Hedge to call the district "the Republic of Bellary."
"This shows the arrogance of the officials even after the Supreme Court ban. This is why I call it the republic of Bellary...They have their own laws. This shows how the mining industry functions. It is definitely shocking. One official was quoted saying he did not know anything about the Supreme Court ban. You will be ignorant if you want to be ignorant," he had said.
The Supreme Court, today, gave permission to the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) to operate its two mines for iron ore production in Karnataka's Bellary district.
"We are of the view that under the extraordinary circumstances, NMDC be allowed to operate these mines (two mines) to extend the production of iron ore to the tune of one million tonnes per month from tomorrow onwards," a special forest bench headed by Chief Justice S H Kapadia said.
The bench made it clear that no part of the iron ore extracted by the NMDC will be exported, and has kept private mine owners out of mining activities.
Last Friday, the court had ordered the suspension of all mining operations in the Bellary district. The court said it was shocked by the extent of the environmental damage in the area. It wants the Karnataka government to take responsibility for restoring the ecological balance here by asking mining companies to pay for the clean-up required.
The court also asked the government to explain how much iron-ore is required by industry, what percentage of this is met by Bellary, and how much steel produced in India is exported.
Bellary has 148 mines, of which 98 are located in forest areas and are at the center of the controversy over the environmental problems in the area. At least 40 leases for mining in forests had been declared void a few months ago.