BENGALURU: The first file that was signed by HD Kumaraswamy soon after taking charge as Union minister of steel and heavy industries in the NDA government on June 12, has been stalled by Karnataka’s forest, ecology and environment department minister Eshwar B Khandre.
The file that has been stalled pertains to mining permission to Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Limited (KIOCL) to take up iron ore mining in Devadari Hills of Swamimalai forest, in Sandur, Ballari, in 401.5761 hectares of virgin forest land.
On June 21, Khandre signed a letter and sent it to forest, environment and ecology department and to the Company stating that no forest clearance for mining in Sandur would be given to KIOCL till the company implements the Central Empowered Committee guidelines and gets clearances for environmental violations by KIOCL in Kudremukh. The signed letter was made public on June 22.
A department official said: “When KIOCL was mining in Kudremukh, many violations took place. The company had increased the height of Lakya dam’s catchment area by one metre due to which forest submersion area had increased. They had laid pipes to transport iron ore to Mangaluru, without obtaining forest permission.
Mining dues are also yet to be cleared. So now it has been decided that unless forest clearance for anomalies related to forest act and mining in Kudremukh are not cleared, no mining permission in Sandur will be given.”
‘No documents of permissions’
Officials added that they were also investigating how mining permission was given to KIOCL in Devadri Hills, when it was rejected by the forest department and the environment committee in 2020. “Surpassing all procedures, in 2021 the BJP government gave preliminary approval.
In December 2022, final clearance was given and the file was sent to the ministry for approval. It was shelved for a long time, but when Kumaraswamy took charge, he immediately signed the file permitting iron ore mining in Devadri. There are no documents of permissions in department records,” the official said.
The area where mining permission has been sought is spread across 6,500 hectares, home to endemic trees and plants. Forest officials said KIOCL is not giving land in lieu, they have instead given Rs 194 crore to take up compensatory afforestation.