Mining Scam: Congress Asks for Trouble, Gets it Aplenty
Daijiworld Media Network - Belgaum (SP)
Belgaum, Jan 22: The opposition, which has been creating a furore over the mining scam and is trying to floor the Reddy brothers and Sriramulu, mining barons who are ministers in the state cabinet, instead was at the receiving end as the chief minister belted out the details of the mining licences issued to various bigwigs, some of whom are closely associated with the Congress. Instead of flooring the ruling party ministers, the Congress was seen groping in dark to defend itself.
Chief minister Yeddyurappa tabled the details of mining licences issued to several bigwigs including Pramod Deshpande, son of KPCC president R V Deshpande, ex MP Manjunath Kunnur and many others. The chief minister gave in to the opposition pressure to reveal the details of 109 mining licences issued to various persons and concerns. These were issued during the tenure of ex-chief ministers Dharam Singh from the Congress and H D Kumaraswamy from the JD(S). Pramod Deshpande's 'Dhruv Deshpande Private Limited' was given mining lease in 116.55 acres in Tumkur district while 'Garudadri Impex Private Limited' in which Manjunath Kunnur is a director, was given mining licence in 21.44 hectares of land in Chitradurga district, the chief minister said.
Other politicians who took advantage of the favours were Sunanda V Allum and Allum Basavaraj , relatives of of ex-KPCC president and Congress minister Allum Veerabhadrappa who were issued mining licences for 42.9 acres in Tumkur district and 40 acres in Bellary district respectively and 27 more licences isued to Congress MP Anil Lad. He also revealed that the companies in which political leaders M T Krishnappa, K T Venkatesh, Suresh Babu and K N Rajanna also got mining licences during the above tenures. He also bared several cases in which mining licences were renewed after several years of their expiry, in violation of rules and regulations. In these cases too, lincence of Canara Minerals Private limited of R Charuchandra was renewed after 15 and 16 years of expiry of the two licences respectively during the Dharam Singh period. In other cases, a licence was renewed after 15 years of expiry for Mookambika Minerals, 11.5 years in case of Niranjan M L (both during H D Kumaraswamy tenure). These renewals were cancelled during the governor's rule in the state, he informed. He also added that contractors have approached the High Court against these cancellations.
Yeddyurappa highlighted, that 109 mining licences had been issued during the chief ministership of Dharam Singh and Kumara Swamy, whereas not a single mining licence was issued during his own term. He recommended for the formation of a joint house committee for finding out details of people who were benefitted from these licences and also as to who recommended them. However, the opposition stuck to its demand for a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry.
The Congress tried to embarrass the government by raking up the issue of the government's attempt to cover up the Lokayukta report on the violation of Karnataka border by an Andhra Pradesh company owned by minister Janardan Reddy, by getting another report from the Forest department. The Forest department report said that no encroachments had taken place at the border. Congress leader T B Jayachandra said that the government directly connived in obtaining a report favouring it, even when the owners of the company, Obalapuram Mining Company, have agreed for conducting survey of the disputed land.