Date:08/01/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/08/stories/2009010852850500.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Obalapuram Mining Company found to have tampered with border markings

Raghava M.

Lokayukta team also detects encroachment of forest land

OMC is owned by Minister for Tourism and Infrastructure Development Janardhan Reddy
Investigating team found that ‘road signs’ had been destroyed at some places

BANGALORE: A Lokayukta team has found Obalapuram Mining Company (OMC), based in Andhra Pradesh and owned by Minister for Tourism and Infrastructure Development G. Janardhan Reddy, to have tampered with the border markings between Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. It also detected encroachment of forest land in Karnataka.

The team, led by Indian Forest Service officer U.V. Singh, found that OMC also built connecting roads across the border into Karnataka in order to access ore from mines it had contracted. The border area holds rich deposits of high-grade iron ore. While the Karnataka Government has distributed leases to three companies in the border areas, Andhra Pradesh has given a mining lease to OMC.

Mr. Singh’s report forms part of Lokayukta N. Santosh Hegde’s first report on mining irregularities that was recently submitted to the State Government. The inter-State boundary passes through the Bellary Reserve Forest. The Vibhutigudda mines and Sugammagudda mines are located on the Karnataka side of the border. The two mines have a common boundary with the Mahabaleshwara mines and Obalapuram mines, which are in Andhra Pradesh. The boundaries of villages in the Bellary Reserve Forest in both States have been marked on the ground by inscribing “rock signs”. Tracking the boundary, the team found “road signs” had been destroyed at some places. It found that near Sugammagudda hillock in Andhra Pradesh and Timmappannagudda hillock in Karnataka, the markings had been destroyed. Mr. Singh said the OMC had built a network of roads connecting its mines in Andhra Pradesh with the mine pit heads in Karnataka, the lease for which was held by Hind Traders. Further, he noted that the mining was done by OMC, not Hind Traders. “The mine roads formed at the inter-State border are used to transport iron ore on both sides (Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka). Due to road formation, the inter-State border line has been destroyed,” he said. The team leader concluded that OMC’s activities constituted encroachment of forest land. The exact area of encroachment can be ascertained only after “proper fixing of inter-State boundary line”, Mr. Singh said.

However, the Lokayukta, in his report, observed that he was “not inclined to endorse” Mr. Singh’s findings in their entirety because the issue has an inter-State dispute dimension. “No conclusion,” he remarked, “could be arrived at without hearing Andhra Pradesh.”