Bellary Miners Sulk as Yeddy Returns
Bellary, Nov. 26 (DC): The powerful mining lobby that had successfully engineered political coups in previous regimes has now slipped into desperation with their attempts to ease out the Chief Minister, B.S. Yeddyurappa, failing miserably.
The CM has managed to hold on to his chair despite being scam tainted and the mining lobby foresees troublesome days ahead. The mining lobby had suffered a blow after the Karnataka High Court on November 19 upheld the state government’s orders prohibiting export of iron ore.
In this backdrop, the Bellary mining lobby was obviously waiting for news from the BJP high command sacking Yeddyurappa. They also expected the defiant Chief Minister pushing the state into a mid-term poll. But both of these did not happen.
The High Court had given the state six months to put in place measures to curb illegal mining and rethink banning exports. However, the miners say that the industry is sure to sink into deeper crisis as the cumulative loss in the last four months has mounted to Rs 5,000 crore.
Sources said the miners were keeping all options open including that of approaching the Supreme Court for a stay on the HC order. “Going by the recent precedents, we are not sure whether the green bench of the Supreme Court will stay the HC order,” said a mine owner. The miners want a political decision revoking the ban order, which was, in the first place, a political move. “For this, we were hoping for a change of guard in the government but we are now in deep anxiety,” said a mine owner.
Indeed, Yeddyurappa was the ‘most unfriendly’ Chief Minister as far as the mining lobby is concerned. His July 28 order imposing ban on iron ore exports had in a single stroke hurt the 70-odd export oriented mining companies owned by big names in industry.
Industry insiders admit that Yeddyurappa was the first Chief Minister to take bold steps to prevent illegal mining. But this had the political aim of nailing the Bellary Reddy Brothers.
“But the CM had failed to differentiate between legal and illegal mining and that is why he issued a draconian order banning exports,” said an office-bearer of the Bellary-Sandur-Hospet Mine Owners Association. “Legal miners have got trapped in the crossfire,” he said.