BIJAPUR: Minister for Forests C. Chennigappa said here on Thursday that his department had taken up the project of nurturing eight crore saplings across the State, for which Rs. 320 crore would be sanctioned in the next three years. The Minister, who launched the plantation programme organised by the T.K. Patil Benakatti Charitable Trust headed by film producer Basantkumar Patil, announced this to presspersons here on Thursday.

He said special squads had been formed to check timber smuggling in the borders areas. Referring to the involvement of officials in mining scandals he said the Government had lodged a complaint with Loka yukta, and added that those found guilty would be punished. It was found in a survey that only 127 of 423 mining companies were being run legally, he added. Large quantity of iron ore is being transported with duplicate permits and without paying royalty.

It was estimated that the money involved in the scandal was not less than Rs. 25,000 crore, he added. To a question, Mr. Chennigappa said there was nothing wrong in former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda's son, H.D. Ramesh, running a mining business.

He was exporting iron ore after purchasing it from mining companies. He had been in the business for the last eight years, he said. There was no rule that the relatives of those at the helm of affairs in the State should not engage in a business, he said. He said 94 per cent of the granite businesses around Kanakapura were illegal, but they had been stopped for the last three months.

He said the Government was not for a CBI inquiry into the mining scandal as demanded by the Congress, not out of fear of the outcome, but because it was under the control of a Government led by that party and it might misuse the agency to settle political scores. He said the Government had appointed a Judicial Commission that could carry out the task without bias. Referring to charges of the Rs. 150-crore bribe against him and Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, he alleged that the mining lobby was trying to topple the Government.

The Minister planted a sapling alongside the Ukkali Road. He lauded the trust's effort to plant and nurture one-lakh saplings on the either side of major roads linking Bijapur city.

He promised that his department would provide the required number of saplings free of cost. Local MLA Appasaheb Pattanshetti presided over the function. Basantkumar Patil delivered the keynote address. Siddeshwars Swamiji of Jnanayogashram felicitated trust secretary R.T. Patil.

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