Karnataka: Minister Eshwar Khandre Orders Halt to Leasing of Forest Areas for Iron Ore Mining
Bengaluru: One of the 100-day agendas of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to start mining iron ore in Devadari Hills of Sandur in Ballari of Karnataka received a jot after the Minister for Forests and Environment Eshwar Khandre on Saturday directed officials concerned to stop leasing 401. 5761 hectares.
The direction from the Minister came after Union Minister of Heavy Industries and Steel H.D. Kumaraswamy directed officials concerned of Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Limited (KIOCL) to start mining activities in Devadari forest areas.
In issuing directions not to lease the forest areas in Devadari Hills, the Minister pointed out that Kudremukh Iron Ore Company in Mudigere taluk of Chikmagalur district failed to comply with the directions of the Centrally Empowered Committee (CEC) appointed by the Supreme Court. The KIOCL failed to initiate remedial measures for its mining activities conducted inside Kudremukh National Park.
However, environmentalists expressed fears that the mining of iron ore in Sandur forests will lead to chopping of about 99,000 trees. They feared that mining activities in Sandur ravaged resources causing damages to both wildlife and local community. Axing trees in huge numbers will have adverse impact in the years to come and environmentalists urged the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to put on hold the clearance of the Devadari mining project.
Responding to the concerns of environmentalists, Kumaraswamy said there is no deforestation activities and stated that the State Government in 2019 permitted mining in over 404 hectares for the Devadari mining project and later the Central Environment department approved it.
Kumaraswamy said that KIOCL will plant an alternative forest covering 808 hectares at a cost of Rs 194 crore before starting iron ore extraction and stated that the Devadari project is to boost steel production and create jobs.
