He was reacting to the opposition leaders demand of conducting the inquiry by central agencies about this incident following the allegation that some of the exporters have shipped out seized iron ore from Belekere port to Pakistan.
“The Centre handles port and export related issues. They are free to conduct inquiry into it,” the Chief Minister said while speaking to reporters here. It may be noted that Lokayukta Santosh Hegde had written to the Centre asking details about alleged export of seized iron ore from Karnataka to Karachi in Pakistan.
Meanwhile, Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President R V Deshpande and leader of the opposition in the Assembly Siddaramaiah met Congress president Sonia Gandhi here on Thursday brought to her notice about the alleged export of ore to Pakistan. The state Congress leaders have also said that it would be disaster to the country if the Centre allowed free run to miners to loot the nation’s wealth.
Both the leaders also met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday and urged them to take action against the illegal mining activities. Speaking to newsmen, Siddaramaiah said all the leaders have promised us to take steps to put and end the menace of mining mafia.