H.D. Kumaraswamy

BANGALORE: Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy has hit out at the Centre for not responding to the State's request for relief to tackle the flood situation. He told presspersons here on Saturday that the Centre's response was immediate in the case of Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh and it had released assistance of Rs. 400 crore and Rs. 200 crore respectively to those States from the National Calamity Contingency Fund (NCCF). Release of excess water from reservoirs in Maharashtra had caused unprecedented floods in north Karnataka. But the Centre had not released funds to the State, he said. The Centre had adopted different yardsticks to different States discriminating against Karnataka, he added.

Crops had been damaged on 80,000 hectares of land and damage to public property and infrastructure had been estimated at Rs. 600 crore.

An all-party delegation led by Mr. Kumaraswamy had met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar on August 8 and sought Central assistance for taking up relief measures in flood-affected areas.

Mining

The Chief Minister said the Government had decided to press the Centre for nationalising the mining industry to safeguard the natural resources. He said the Centre and the Andhra Pradesh Government were not cooperating with the State in checking illegal mining in the Bellary district, an issue which has rocked the coalition Government in recent weeks.

Mr. Kumaraswamy said he would take up with Prime Minister the question of nationalisation of mining activity.

Releasing a documentary film on illegal and destructive mining activities in Bellary district, produced by Bangalore journalists K.G.Vasuki and Maya Jaideep, he said he would inform the Prime Minister about the havoc being caused on the environment and the health of the people of Bellary district by illegal mining. The Centre had not bothered to reply to a letter written by him on April 4 to Dr. Singh on illegal mining. "I will write a letter to him again demanding nationalisation (of mining activity)," he added.

During the August 8 all-party delegation to the Prime Minister, he had urged Union Environment and Forest Minister A. Raja to conduct a survey of mining in the State. The latter had promised to send a team of officials for that purpose.

Observing that the eco- system had been destroyed through illegal mining, he said abuse of environment for commercial purposes to make a small number of people super-rich could not be allowed. The sources of water had been polluted and forests destroyed owing to mining, he added. Officials of the departments of Revenue, Forests and Environment, Tansport, Mining and Legal Metrology had colluded with mine owners and received favours from them. The Government was ready to order inquiries into such cases, Mr. Kumaraswamy said.

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