JOIN USSurvey of Obalapuram mines this month: Centre
It also refuted Telugu Desam MP M V Mysura Reddy’s contention that the mines were a bone of contention between Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, with Environment & Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh stating in Rajya Sabha that it was a “commercial dispute” between companies, and that “Karnataka government is nowhere in the picture.”
The issue came up during Question Hour in the Upper House with TDP MPs, Reddy and Nandamuri Harikrishna wanting to know if the Centre had issued a directive to the AP government to stop mining at Obulapuram mines.
Replying to supplementaries, Ramesh said, while he was engaged in having a dialogue with the AP government on the issue since forests were a state subject while the Forest (Conservation) Act was a Central law, the Centre’s view was that SoI should carry out the survey as per the undertaking given by the government to the Apex Court. “We have said in the Supreme Court that it will take six weeks. We are expecting that the survey will be done by the end of this month,” he said. However, he added that the AP government felt that there was no need for another survey by SoI. He said the Centre was trying to reach a position of reconciliation with the AP government on the issue, but “if a survey is required to be carried out by SoI, it will be carried out”.
Going into the background of the issue, Ramesh said that after detailed consultation, the Forest Advisory Committee had recommended that the Centre’s approval to the five mines – Anantpur Mining Corporation, Bellary Iron Ore Pvt Ltd, Obulapuram Mining Company Pvt Ltd (two mines) and Y Mahabaleshwarappa & Sons – be kept in suspension till the demarcation was completed by SoI, and proper boundaries and safety zones were provided to them on ground.
While the Centre suspended the approval on April 22 with immediate effect, it kept the suspension in abeyance following a request in this regard by the AP government on April 28, he said. Ramesh said that the dispute was between people who had got iron ore leases, with one side saying that the other had encroached on its lease area.