Hubli: Hungund Congress legislator, Vijayanand Kashappanavar, plans to lodge a complaint with the party high command against the “interference” of ministers S.R. Patil and Shivaraj Tangadagi in the district’s stone quarrying and granite industry.
Claiming that his efforts to solve the problems of the granite industry in Hungund taluk are being undone by Mr Patil, who is butting in for no reason although he is the local legislator , the MLA also accuses minister Shivaraj Tangadagi of instigating party workers against him in the constituency.
“Both ministers are not taking me into confidence on several issues including work related to the stone polishing units. I plan to lodge a complaint against them with the Congress high command, the Chief Minister and KPCC president”, Mr Kashappanavar told the Deccan Chronicle.
Local environmentalists, however, claim rising competition among Congressmen to protect illegal quarrying in Bagalkot, Koppal and Raichur districts is at the root of the problem. Not only do politicians play a key role in supplying the raw material to granite industries through illegal quarrying in adjacent Lingasgur, Kushtagi, Yalaburga taluks, but owners of these units too often approach them for help in renewing their licenses and getting clearance from the pollution control board, they say.
“Politicians make crores in ‘hafta’ from illegal quarrying and unauthorized granite and polishing units. Congress politicians are fighting amongst themselves to protect these industries instead of taking action against them,” alleges Ilkal Janajagruti Vedike general secretary, Nagaraj Hongal.
Noting that the little town of Ilkal in Bagalkot district has turned into a commercial hub owing to the mushrooming of granite industries over the last three decades and the hundreds of unauthorized stone polishing units that have sprung up on its outskirts of the town, the environmentalists claim politicians of all hues have played a big role in helping these industries thrive.
