Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Tuesday that the government had no plans to impose ban on mining in the State.
It is also not planning to set up a fast-track court to handle cases related to illegal mining.
In a written reply to C T Ravi (BJP), Siddaramaiah said that as per the Supreme Court direction, investigation has been conducted at various levels against those involved in illegal mining cases.
Till the reports of the investigation are received, no decision will be taken to set up a special court.
Last year, the chief minister had told the Assembly that the government was examining setting up a fast-track court to try those named in the Rs 1,60,856-crore mining scam.
He said that those cases which need to be investigated were referred to the Lokayukta on December 22, 2013.
After accepting the investigation report, the government would take action against the erring officials.
Though there are no plans to impose a complete ban on mining, the government would not allow any damage to the environment.
The Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), which has been set up, would work in this regard.
The Supreme Court has restricted the extraction of iron ore to 30 million metric tonnes (mmt) per annum.
However, the iron and steel industry in the State requires# 40 mmt. The State has appealed to the court to enhance the limit to 40 mmt so that new permits can be granted, he said.
Cap removed
The court, on April 18 last year, removed the cap on sanctioning permits for ore mining. There are 166 mining pits under three categories.
Of these, 105 mining firms are allowed to carry out business, but only 25 are operating. Some of the lease holders are not operating as they have not implemented the rehabilitation and reclamation programme, he told H C Balakrishna (JD-S).
The chief minister stated that as per the Lokayukta’s second report of 2006-07, the loss due to illegal export of ore was Rs 12,228.14 crore.
A case is filed against M Basappa Reddy, former director of mining and geology department, seeking that Rs 6.41 crore be recovered.
A charge sheet is filed against Gangaram Baderia, former director of the mining department, to recover Rs 1.26 crore.
In all, charge sheets have been filed against six IAS/IPS officers for causing losses to Mysore Minerals Limited.
Replying to Shivalinge Gowda (JD-S), Siddaramaiah said that in the last three years, only one mining permit has been sanctioned. One Praveen Chandra has been allowed to extract iron and manganese in 122.22 hectares in Hosadurga of Chitradurga district.
‘Govt delaying auctioning’
In the Legislative Council, Leader of the Opposition K S Eshwarappa accused the government of succumbing to pressure from certain quarters and deliberately delaying the auctioning of ‘C’ category mines.
Closure of 51 ‘C’ mines
Making a preliminary submission for the admissibility of an adjournment motion, Eshwarappa said that the government took six months to issue closure order of 51 ‘C’ category mines.
The government was now sitting on the auctioning process of iron ore already extracted from these mines, while there is a shortage of ore. This has forced investors to move away from the State.
The SPV to implement the rehabilitation and reclamation programme has not been put in place.
A corpus fund of Rs 4,000 crore for the afforestation programmes and to provide the basic amenities of water, employment and irrigation facilties in the three mining districts had remained unutilised, he said.
D H Shankaramurthy, Chairman of the Council, disallowed the motion, but allowed discussion.