SC panel: Markers destroyed

New Delhi, Nov. 20: The Supreme Court-appointed central empowerment committee accused the Karnataka tourism minister, Mr Gali Janardhan Reddy’s company of “destroying the boundary pillars” and that it “encroached on the forest land located between the states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka”.

A report submitted by the committee also stated that OMC has a business partnership with the son of the then chief minister of Andhra Pradesh.

The committee has recommended that the fresh demarcation of the mining areas be done in a “time-bound” manner by a team comprising senior representatives of the Survey of India, ministry of environment and forests, Andhra Pradesh forest department and revenue department as per the “survey and land records”.

“The team should also demarcate, identify and determine the area falling outside the approved mining leases and wherein illegal mining operations have been carried out,” it said.

The committee has disapproved the stand of the AP government that OMC was not involved in any illegal mining in the forest areas outside its mining lease.

The stand of the AP government “suffers from serious defects (on five counts listed in the report) and inconsistencies and is not at all in conformity with the approved mining,” the report said.

While recommending suspension of mining activities in the area in question, the committee said the boundaries of mining leases determined by the AP government were “inconsistent and different” in terms of areas of mining lease, in shape, in length and location.

Mining could be permitted only after fresh demarcation in the approved areas, the committee recommended while asking the top court to “impose exemplary costs equivalent to the normative market value of the iron ore extracted from the areas outside the approved mining lease”.

In Hyderabad, reacting to the observations of the Supreme Court panel, the Chief Minister, Mr K. Rosaiah, said, “Whatever the Supreme Court decides on the issue, my government will implement them in letter and spirit.”