A committee set up by the Karnataka government to probe illegal quarrying of granite has concluded that no quarrying was going on in the forest area of Kanakapura taluk.
The team led by the Principal Secretary, Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms, Mohamed Sanaulla, in its report stated that “no quarrying is going on within 100 metres of the forest area.”
In its report, which was submitted to the Chief Minister on March 14 this year, the Sanaulla Committee said the team, after inspecting thoroughly the locations where it was alleged that illegal quarrying was on, found that no quarrying was going on in the forest area of Kanakapura taluk.
Forest department officials – Chief Conservator of Forest, Bangalore Division, and Deputy Conservator of Forest, Ramanagar – also confirmed that no stone quarrying was going on in the forest areas of Kanakapura taluk, it said.
As reported by Department of Mines and Geology, 122 quarry leases have been sanctioned in Kanakapura taluk, out of which “some are pending for renewal, some are idle and only 29 quarries are active,” the report said.
Minister for Forests C.P. Yogeshwar had said that illegal quarrying was on in Kanakapura taluk and that Congress leader D.K. Shivakumar was allegedly involved in it. This prompted the then Chief Minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda to appoint the committee to probe the matter in February.
The government did not make the report public, but Shivakumar said in a release that he had secured it under the Right to Information Act.
The panel has also suggested to government to fill existing posts in Mines and Geology department and to strengthen it by providing more mobile squads and introduction of ‘e-khanija’ system for transportation of granite stone from quarries to dealers on lines of major minerals, among other things.
It also suggested that The Karnataka (Prevention of Illegal mining, Transportation and Storage of Minerals) Rules, 2011 be made applicable for granite also.