Karnataka Forest and Environment Minister Eshwar B Khandre
Credit: DH File Photo
Bengaluru: Forest, Environment and Ecology Minister Eshwar B Khandre on Friday said that Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Limited (KIOCL) will be allowed to mine at Devadari in Sandur only if they follow rules.
Khandre was responding to a calling-attention motion by Mangalore North MLA Dr Bharath Shetty Y in the Legislative Assembly.
Shetty asked Khandre to permit mining as he claimed that over 1,000 workers from the Dakshina Kannada district were working in the Devadari Iron Ore Mines in Sandur.
Reacting to this, Khandre recalled that the permission to mine at Devadari had been provided on December 16, 2022, on the caveat that they follow rules. “Earlier, KIOCL has broken rules while mining in Karnataka. Including providing a pipeline at the Kudremukh National Park, they have used 465.73 hectares of land without permission for non-foresting purposes,” he said.
Noting that the firm had to pay Rs 3,000 crore to the state government, including interest, for all these violations, the forest minister pointed out that mining could be allowed only when these conditions were satisfied.
H D Kote MLA Anil Chikkamadhu requested Khandre to provide a permanent solution to the problem of devotees not being able to freely visit the Beladakuppe Mahadeshwara Swamy Temple in the Mysuru district.
In response, Khandre said: “This temple comes under the critical tiger core habitat region in the Bandipur Tiger reserve. As per the rules, no one is allowed there. Since private vehicles are not allowed, we are allowing people in batches of 500 in KSRTC buses.”