SC panel says Gali mining is illegal

New Delhi, Nov. 20: The Karnataka Cabinet minister and powerful BJP leader, Mr Gali Janardhan Reddy, has come in for severe criticism by the Supreme Court-appointed central empowerment committee for his Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) indulging in illegal mining by encroaching upon reserved forests.

Also criticising the Andhra Pradesh government for an alleged “cover-up” of the “illegal” mining by Obulapuram Mining Company, the committee recommended demarcation of the boundaries of the six mining leases, including three belonging to the Reddy brothers.

The committee submitted its report to the Supreme Court on Friday.

The committee, in a strongly worded 18-page report, said, “The Obulapuram Mining Company has encroached in mineral rich areas outside their mining leases and is carrying out large-scale illegal mining in unallotted reserved forest areas.”

“Their (government departments) effort appears to have been to cover up the illegal mining done by Obulapuram Mining Company in the unallotted forest areas outside the approved mining leases. This is not simply acceptable and vitiates the process of fixation of mining boundaries by Andhra Pradesh,” the report went on to state.

The report submitted to the Supreme Court on Friday by the panel for consideration by a special forest bench, has also listed Bellary Iron Ore Private Limited (BIOP), Y.M. and Son and Anantapur Mining Corporation (AMC) apart from the three mining fields of the Reddy brothers, which have to be demarcated.

The panel accused the 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.”