Court allows auctioning of iron ore at Karwar port

Mineral at Baithkol port to be sold; No decision yet on stock at Belekeri port

KARWAR: The Karwar JMFC court directed the Uttara Kannada district administration to conduct a live bidding of illegal iron ore stocked at Karwar’s Baithkol port. The mineral has been lying here for the last 10 years. However, iron ore stored at Belekeri port has to wait for some more time as the Ankola JMFC court is hearing a case.

The illegal iron ore shipped from Ballari in the mid-2000s has been lying at Baithkol and Belekere ports of Karwar following a CBI inquiry into the illegality. This is a result of a raid conducted by the then DCF, Karwar, R Gokul, who seized over 8 lakh metric tonnes of iron ore at Belekere and 65,000 tonnes at Baithkol. Twenty mining and transport companies had been booked at that time for illegal mining, transport and export of minerals.

The Forest Department, however, recently filed an application seeking disposal of ore under Section 457 of CrPC, which allows selling of property that is lying unused. In the case of iron ore at Baithkol, the department contended that the probe is still on, while the mineral has blocked the entire port not allowing any development work at the spot.

The department also contended that iron ore is being washed away during monsoon, causing pollution of the sea and death of aquatic life. Also, over the years, several incidents of iron ore theft have been reported from here. After the hearing, the court had instructed the district administration to dispose of iron ore after evaluation. But it was found that there is only half of the total 65,000 metric tonnes of iron ore seized.
The district administration has invited companies to take part in the auction.

Story of the Ore

• Illegally mined iron ore seized in 2010 will be auctioned within a month
• The iron ore was seized by IFS officer R Gokul, who raided the port and furnished crucial information to then Lokayukta Santosh Hegde, who included it in his report on illegal mining
• The probe led to the Supreme Court order that banned mining and transportation of iron ore across the country
• According to experts, the ore seized in 2010 was at Rs 5,000 per metric ton, and would be valued at Rs 16 crore if the price had remained the same. However, iron ore prices have dropped drastically, which stands at Rs 4.8 crore presently

The value of iron ore at Belekeri is rs 120 crore and would have been worth Rs 400 crore in case the old price of Iron ore was still applicable