The man who nailed Reddys

Biswas was supposed to conduct an inspection based on a complaint filed by Bellary Iron Ore Pvt Ltd, which had alleged that OMC had encroached into its lease area. But the officer did not give up. The forest sub-division of Penugonda of Andhra Pradesh conducted a survey on October 22, 2009, under police protection and uncovered a series of illegal activities by these companies in the Bellary reserve forest bordering Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

During the survey, it was noticed that OMC and AMC, owned by the Reddy brothers –– Janardhana Reddy, Karunakara Reddy and their associate B Sriramulu, had allegedly encroached upon the area leased out to Bellary Mining Ores Company in about 0.225 ha, which has very high grade iron deposits. Nearly 2.5 lakh tonnes of iron ore were extracted by digging 30 metres deep.

Biswas then took the Reddys head-on and served five notices to OMC and AMC between October 26 and November 1, 2009, seeking explanation on their various illegal activities in and around the lease areas. He was the first officer in the AP government to question the alleged illegal actions of the Reddys.

Then Andhra Pradesh chief minister K Rosaiah ordered a CBI probe into the alleged illegalities of OMC and AMC on November 9. The CBI is probing into all illegalities that Biswas had found in OMC and AMC lease areas.

Deccan Herald was the first to report about notices issued by the DFO to Reddys.

The five notices

Here are the contents of five notices served by the Forest department to the Reddys:

Oct 26: Illegal road

The company laid a road illegally in the reserve forest area to transport iron ore from the mining lease area of 68.5 ha. The road is laid from Gavisiddeswara temple to the mining lease area. The notice says the road is laid in violation of the Forest (Conservation) Act and conditions imposed by GoI.

Oct 28: Uprooting mining boundary pillars

The DFO served a notice on the OMC stating that the company had uprooted village boundary pillars designated as survey station no. 4 and lease boundary pillar 6 located between Siddapuram and Obalapuram villages. The company has a mining lease area of 25.98 ha in the area.

The violation was noticed during a survey conducted to fix up the boundary between the two villages. The survey was conducted by State High Level Committee appointed by Andhra Pradesh government. The company has also destroyed all flagged iron rods pegged at regular intervals along the village boundary. With this, the company had conducted mining in the area belonged to M/S Bellary Iron Ore Pvt Ltd. It states that the company has done illegal mining.

Oct 28: Road laid by destroying boundary pillars

The notice states that OMC has laid a road between survey stations 1 and 2 by destroying inter-state (Karnataka-AP) boundary pillars.
The company laid the road with an intention to transport iron ore from the company’s mining lease areas in AP to Karnataka. The action is in violation of conditions imposed by Ministry of Environment and Forestry and other statutory agencies.

Oct 30: Mining without permit

The notice is served to Anantpur Mining Corporation for conducting mining operations in mining lease area of 6.5 ha in Bellary reserve forest area without getting consent from Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board.

The company has not even taken permission from the Forest Department to carry out mining operations. The company transported 12 lakh tonnes of iron ore lumps and fines between December 2008 and October 2009, without the clearances from the department.

Nov 1: Illegal mining in Karnataka

The DFO has served the notice stating that the OMC has been extracting ore illegally in Karnataka and transporting the same through unauthorised roads, laid by the company, to Andhra Pradesh.