Quarrying: Heads will roll

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After the Bellary mining scam, it is the Kanakapura granite quarrying scam that has government officials of various departments on the tenterhooks.

The expert team appointed to investigate the lapses in the quarrying fields of Kanakapura has recommended action against government officials who will be named in the chargesheet expected to be filed in a fortnight.

A member of the expert team told Deccan Chronicle that the names of officials from Forest, Mines and Geology and Revenue departments will figure in the chargesheet.

“Based on the report prepared by Dr U.V. Singh in 2006, it was proved that close to 70 quarrying sites were operating inside the forest boundaries. This could not have been possible without the involvement of government officials. We are now digging out records on which officials posted during the last 10 years and how such illegal practices were allowed. There is undoubtedly the involvement of officials from forest, revenue and mines and geology department,” the official said.

Early this year, forest minister C.P. Yogeshwar visited the quarrying sites with the forest department team and had accused local Congress leader Mr D.K. Shivakumar of being involved in illegal mining practices in the area. After the visit, the minister had said: “The environmental degradation in Kanakapura is enormous. The situation is worse than Bellary.”

Amidst opposition from the Congress members, who charged the forest minister of playing political games, the expert team appointed by the government started its investigations since February this year. In the last 30 days, the team has gone through the previous cases filed by different forest officers and checked documents and leases of quarrying sites in Kanakapura and surrounding areas.

“In the U.V. Singh report, about 143 forest offences were mentioned and, in all, 189 cases were filed. About 99 cases of quarrying were reported either inside the forest area or within the prescribed safe zone (100 mts from forest boundary where any non-forestry activity is restricted). Of these cases, 71 have been chargesheeted in the Kanakapura court and we are now following on the status of these cases,” an investigating officer said.