Releasing certain documents to support his allegations, Kumaraswamy demanded that the minister resign.
Kumaraswamy made the allegations within hours after Reddy told the press that he owned no mines in Karnataka. Reddy had offered to resign if his involvement in illegal mining was proved. The JD(S) leader said the AMC in 2004 extracted iron ore from Black Gold Iron Ore mine (BGIOM) in Honnahalli in Bellary whose licence had expired in 1992 itself.
The AMC had paid royalty to the State Government and the amount had been transferred from Reddy’s bank account.
He said the High Court, following a petition, had stalled operations of BGIOM in 1981. However, in 2004 a few interested parties moved the HC to lift 3.5 lakh tonnes of ore left in the stockyards of BGIOM.
Kumaraswamy alleged that the petitioners succeeded to get clearance to lift the iron ore by misleading the court. The court clearly told the petitioners not to mine in its limits. However, there are evidences to show that the AMC had transported the ore from BGIOM, in violation of the court order, he alleged.
The AMC then exported the ore extracted in BGIOM through ports in Mangalore and other places of Andhra Pradesh, he said. He said IFS officer Punit Sridhar, during his inspection of BGIOM area, found mining operations in BGIOM limits against the court orders. He also filed a first information report with the regional forest officer. However, the officers did not probe into the case citing that the representatives of BGIOM were not available.
The reports of joint survey conducted by officers of Forest Department and Mines and Geology also proved illegal mining in BGIOM limits, he said. He also released copies of transport permits obtained by AMC to transport the ore. He said he had proved that Reddy was into illegal mining in Karnataka.He added that he had many more documents to prove illegal mining by the Reddys and would release them in future.