BENGALURU | Sept 24, 2015: The Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI) here on Wednesday admitted that a section of miners, besides politicians and bureaucrats, were responsible for the mess in the entire mining industry in Karnataka, for which it was “still paying the price.”
H. Noor Ahmed, president of FIMI, said, “Things went wrong from all sides.” He, however, added that regardless of former Minister and mining baron G. Janardhan Reddy being a member of FIMI, the federation had complained against him to the Centre for the alleged illegalities.
R.K. Sharma, Secretary General of FIMI, said, “Nobody can do illegal mining without the support of the political and bureaucratic system.” The then Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa failed to contain the alleged illegalities by Mr. Janardhan Reddy, he alleged.
Delay in clearance
Right now, the industry was in a “critical condition” because of the delay in clearing major mining projects across the country, said Mr. Ahmed. Legal interventions had caused shutting down of many large and small-scale mines. Urging the Centre to allocate more funds for mineral exploration in the country, he noted that the National Mineral Exploration Trust had its limitations in mineral exploration.
FIMI observed that deep seated minerals would pose the real challenge, where the State exploration agencies have far greater work to do. Mr. Ahmed said the need of the hour is to focus on deep seated metallic minerals.
Regardless of former Minister G. Janardhan Reddy being a member of FIMI, the federation had complained against him to the Centre for the alleged illegalitiesH. Noor Ahmed,president of FIMI
IN NUMBERs :
Total value of mineral production in India
2012-13 - Rs. 2,85,761 cr.
2013-14 - Rs. 2,27,000 cr.
Quantum of mineral production
2013-14 - 152 million tonnes
2014-15 - 129 million tonnes
(Source: http://www.thehindu.com/)