Karnataka - Bangalore   

Mining task force to be given security

SHOWDOWN?: C. Chennigappa (left) and B. Sriramulu

BANGALORE: Tourism Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader B. Sriramulu seems to be in the dock. Minister for Forests C. Chennigappa on Saturday said the State Government had decided to provide adequate police security to Bellary District Divisional Forest Officer P. Rajashekharan and the task force headed by him to crack down on illegal mining on the Karnataka-Andhra Pradesh border in the wake of the reported threat to his life by Mr. Sriramulu.

Mr. Chennigappa told presspersons that the Chief Minister had ordered the authorities concerned to depute three platoons of Karnataka State Reserve Police to Bellary to provide security to the forest official and members of the task force. Such a security was a must to continue the crackdown against illegal mining in Bellary district, Mr. Chennigappa said.

He released copies of a letter written by him to the Chief Minister in which he had complained against the reported threat to the officer by Mr. Sriramulu and sought police security.

He said he had written to Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa drawing his attention to the episode of the reported threat by Mr. Sriramulu and asking him to advise his party minister to “change such behaviour.” Mr. Chennigappa has appealed to Mr. Sriramulu to “rectify the lapses”.

Defending the forest official, Mr. Chennigappa said the official had helped the Government prevent losses to the tune of crores of rupees by detecting illegal mining undertaken by the Obalapura Mining Company on a 20-acre plot in the border area of Sukalamma Gudda and Tumati. The Minister said about 1.08 lakh hectares of forest land in the State had been encroached. Of this, 47,000 hectares of land had been cleared of encroachments.

Mr. Chennigappa alleged that the ongoing survey by senior forest officer U. V. Singh to detect the illegal mining in the forest area of Bellary district had showed that suspended BJP MLC Janardhan Reddy and some politicians were involved in illegal mining.

While 60 per cent of the survey had already been completed, the survey was likely to be completed in two months. Already steps had been taken to put an end to the illegal mining, he said.

The steps taken by the H.D. Kumaraswamy Ggovernment against illegal mining had resulted in the Government getting additional annual revenue of Rs. 350 crore from Bellary district alone in terms of mining royalty, Mr. Chennigappa said.

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