Daijiworld Media Network – Bellary (SP)

Bellary, Apr 18: Addressing a press conference here on Friday April 16, owner of T N R Mines, Tapal Ganesh, said that Janardan Reddy, Karnataka minister, who is one of the owners of Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC), had tried to mislead the officials of Survey of India, which is verifying the allegation that OMC had encroached upon forest land.

He stated that the mining map enclosed by the officials of Survey of India to their report to the Supreme Court was quite different from the original map.

“At the time the said company was issued mining licence, the border of the mines was not common with the state’s border. Even in his affidavit filed with the deputy conservator of forests earlier, Janardan Reddy had confirmed this aspect. But, the map used by the officials for the survey now has showed that the border of mines specified was common with the state’s border, with border markers,” he alleged.

Ganesh said that if the originally sanctioned map had been used, the irregularities of the mining company would have been exposed and a scam worth thousands of crores of rupees would have been unearthed.  To avoid this from happening, the minister has misled the survey officials and provided them with a wrong map, he added. Saying that the officials of Survey of India are likely to begin the second phase of survey work on April 17, he said he would submit important documents relating to the dispute, to enable the officials to properly assess the extent of encroachment by OMC.