The Hindu. Bangalore 18 July 2000

Cabinet to decide on KIOCL mining lease

By Alladi Jayasri

BANGALORE, JULY 18. The high-level meeting today to consider an extension of the mining lease to the Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Ltd. (KIOCL) has decided to place the issue before the Cabinet, even as the Department of Forests, Ecology and Environment is said to have made it clear that KIOCL's request for denotification of parts of Kudremukh National Park cannot be entertained.

Official sources pointed out that KIOCL -- its 30-year mining lease expired in July 1999, and the temporary permit for 12 months expires this month -- has also sought new mining leases for Nellibeedu and Gangrikal areas which are the source of three important rivers that feed the district.

Apart from the fact that KIOCL's presence in the region is resented by the local community, which has not benefited in terms of employment or economic activity, official sources conceded that the rivers Tunga, Bhadra and Netravathi have been considerably polluted in the past three decades. There is also a strong, active popular movement to ``retrieve'' the environment which falls in the lap of the Western Ghats, one of the 18 ecological hotspots of the world.

Another major reason that could keep the State Government from entertaining the KIOCL's request for a fresh 20-year lease is the fear of being pulled up for violating section 35(6) of the Wildlife Protection Act, which states that no wildlife can be destroyed or damaged or exploited within a national park or wildlife deprived of its habitat without a permit from the Chief Wildlife Warden.

It also restrains the State Government from granting such permits until it is satisfied that such destruction is necessary to the improvement and better management of the wildlife therein. A considerable part of the 4,065-hectare mining area held by KIOCL falls within the 500 sq km national park.

Meanwhile KIOCL's track record in environmental protection and management, a commitment it made after the WPA came into force, has been nothing to write home about. Earlier this year, a pipeline that runs through the national park, carrying iron slurry to the Mangalore plant, sprang a leak. This was compounded by the fact that the pipeline track was doubled in width without informing the local forest officials. The Deputy Conservator of Forests had booked a case against KIOCL, and slapped a hefty fine of Rs. 5 lakhs.

Today, as if to make matters worse, a fresh leak in slurry pipes has been reported within the national park, even as the high- level meeting was going on in Bangalore. The Chief Minister, Mr. S.M. Krishna, attended the meeting for some time, before leaving the Chief Secretary, Mr. B.K. Bhattacharya, to continue the proceedings.

KIOCL was granted a 30-year mining lease in 1969 by the State Government, which expired on July 24, 1999. Months before the lease expired, KIOCL had sought an extension for another 20 years. While granting a temporary permit for 12 months, the State Government had made it clear that KIOCL was bound to get an Environment Impact Assessment made, and the impact of mining activity on the flora and fauna studied by a reputed institute.

KIOCL's case received a shot in the arm when Mr. N.K. Singh, an official in the Prime Minister's Office, wrote to the Chief Secretary on March 31 this year, asking the State Government to renew the lease, apart from denotifying a good portion of the national park to expand mining operations of KIOCL in Nellibeedu and Gangrikal, as the reserves in Kudremukh would run out in seven to eight years.