'KMERC funds only for restoring mining-hit areas': NGO

Chitradurga: Claiming that politicians were eyeing funds to the tune of thousands of crores of rupees at the disposal of the Karnataka Mining Environment Restoration Corporation (KMERC), president of the NGO Samaja Parivartana Samudaya S R Hiremath on Saturday said that a conference would be organised on August 16 in Ballari to discuss ways to ensure the funds were allocated towards restoring mining-affected areas.

Pointing out that the Supreme Court had mandated that KMERC funds were to be distributed among those areas that had borne the brunt of mining activity, Hiremath said, “Illegal mining remains rampant in the state. The KMERC was established with the express aim of restoring both the ecology and the lives of those impacted by mining.”