Cong govt too indulged in illegal mining, MML sold iron ore worth Rs 5000 cr illegally: HDK

News Network
January 13, 2018

Bengaluru, Jan 13: Not only previous governments, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah led Congress government too has indulged in rampant illegal mining, according to former chief minister and JD(S) state president H D Kumaraswamy.

Speaking to media persons here on Saturday, Mr Kumaraswamy, who is also facing illegal mining charges, claimed that iron ore wroth over Rs 5,000 crore has been illegally lifted and transported by the state owned Mysore Minerals Ltd (MML) between 2014 and 2017.

Kumaraswamy said that an internal inquiry by senior officers of the department of Mines and Geology had revealed that 60,56,440 MT of ore had been illegally lifted and sold by MML.

He said, MML had entered into a three-year agreement with Subbarayanahalli Iron Ore Mines and Thimmappanagudi Iron Ore Mines, to mine ore in Sandur taluk in Ballari district from November 27, 2014 to March 31, 2017.

Contracts had also been awarded to S S Muchandi (excavation); Amit Earth Movers (drilling); Vishal Enterprises (crushing/screening); and South West Mining Ltd Kumaraswamy alleged.

The former CM said that as per the committee report dated April 27, 2017, Rs 2,062 crore worth ore was illegally lifted and transported within the state between 2014 and 2015 itself.

MML officials had swindled money by tampering with the records of the production register book. Officials had shown records of less quantity of ore being mined, where the quantum of ore excavated was much higher, he said.

As many as eight IAS officers (serving as Director, Mines and Geology) who tried to expose the scam had been transferred by the government in quick succession.

"IAS officer Munish Moudgil was transferred barely one month after he took charge. The office of the chief minister is directly involved in this illegality," he said.

He also pointed out that the IAS officer Tushar Girinath was heading the department at the height of the scam. Girinath is Siddaramaiah's principal secretary.

"The government was forced to constitute the inquiry committee after another IAS officer P Hemalatha wanted to refer the matter to the Lokayukta," said Kumaraswamy.

He also said that though the contractors had single permits, they had made multiple trips and transported the raw material illegally.

The committee had also highlighted that South West Mining Ltd had carried out excavations on behalf of S S Muchandi, as the latter had no excavation equipment.

"It is a fact that BJP leader B S Yeddyurappa has links with South West Mining Ltd. Ironically, the illegal mining activities carried out by the Congress government is worse than previous BJP regime. These people are more intelligent - they know how to escape, unlike Yeddyurappa who was caught red handed with a cheque," he said.

Kumaraswamy also hinted that Siddaramaiah was in the know of the illegalities. "The Mines department continues to be under Siddaramaiah. Minister Vinay Kulkarni holds the portfolio in name alone. This kind of rampant illegalities cannot be carried out without the blessings of the higher ups," he added and demanded a fair probe into the matter.

Comments

Danish
 - 
Saturday, 13 Jan 2018

HDK targeting only congress and siddaramaiah.

Kumar
 - 
Saturday, 13 Jan 2018

How many allegations? how many promises? Hyperactive Devegowda Kumaraswamy = HDK

Mohan
 - 
Saturday, 13 Jan 2018

Wow.. HDK became hyperactive in these days

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coastaldigest.com news network
July 26,2020

Mangaluru/Udupi, Jul 26: Karnataka’s twin coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi have recorded 369 new coronavirus positive cases and 10 more deaths related to the covid-19 in past 24 hours. 

Dakshina Kannada

With 199 new covid-19 cases, DK’s covid toll mounted to 4,811. The district also recorded eight new covid-related deaths. The death toll mounted to 123. 

Among the 199 new cases are 31 primary contacts, 73 with influenza-like illness (ILI), and 10 with severe acute respiratory illness (SARI). As many as 83 cases are under investigation. Two of the patients have international travel history.

Eight deaths:

A 71-year-old man from Mangaluru, who was admitted to a private hospital on July 19, passed away on July 23. He was diagnosed with ARDS/multiorgan dysfunction, chronic renal disease, diabetes, and hypertension. His throat swabs tested positive for covid-19. 

A 70-year-old man from Mangaluru, who was admitted to a private hospital on July 20, passed away on July 24. He had developed sepsis, chronic kidney disease, lower respiratory tract infection, and other ailments. 

A 55-year-old man from Puttur was admitted to a private hospital on July 23, and passed away a day later. He was diagnosed with septic shock with acute kidney injury with severe metaboic acidosis. 

A 56-year-old man from Mangaluru who was admitted to a private hospital on July 20 passed away on July 24. He was suffering from acute respiratory distress syndrome, multi-organ dysfunction syndrome and ischemic heart disease.

A 72-year-old man from Mangaluru who was admitted to a private hospital on July 18 passed away on July 24. He was suffering from refractory hypoxemia/refractory ARDS, septic shock, secondary bacterial infection, renal failure, acute coronary event, and other ailments. 

A 45-year-old woman from Mangaluru who was admitted to a private hospital on July 24 passed away the same day. She had been diagnosed with metastatic carcinoma of right lung and pneumonia. 

A 55-year-old man from Mangaluru who was admitted to a private hospital on July 21 and passed away on July 24. As per the district bulletin, he was suffering from refractory hypoxemia/refractory ARDS, septic shock, secondary bacterial infection, renal failure, acute coronary event, and other ailments.

A 70-year-old man from Mangaluru suffering from severe pneumonia with ARDS, multiorgan dysfunction, sepsis, chronic kidney disease and hypothyroidism was admitted to a private hospital on July 24 and passed away the same day.

Though the above patients contracted coronavirus, the exact cause of their deaths is being investigated by a team of experts and their report is awaited.

Udupi

The district recorded 170 new covid-19 cases and the total confirmed cases mounted to 3,388. Among the new cases, 86 are in Udupi, 31 in Kundapur, and 52 in Karkala. They include 106 male and 63 women. As many as 2,133 patients have been discharged so far, and 1,241 cases are currently active. 

The district also recorded two covid-19 related deaths – a woman and a man. One is a 63-year-old resident of Byndoor and the other is from Udupi's Indiranagar area. Both had been admitted to the ICU of a private hospital. 

Byndoor resident passed away on the night of Saturday July 26, the Udupi resident died on Sunday. The last rites of both the deceased were conducted as per protocol.

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News Network
June 18,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 18: Examination for PU II English paper, which was postponed for more than three months due to threat of Coronavirus, was held on Thursday across the state.

The authorities were forced to postpone the examination of the English subject, scheduled in March, abruptly due to the threat of Covid-19 which spread like wildfire and has so far claimed lives of more than 100 in the state.

There are over 1,016 examination centres across the state. All the students were put to thermal scanners and were ensured wearing face masks. Each centre has sanitisers. Those with cold, cough and fever were assigned a separate room.

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News Network
May 7,2020

Bengaluru, May 7: Fear and anxiety gripped migrant workers who lined up at police stations in the city on Wednesday to register for train services without knowing that the state government had cancelled the train facility.

Senior officials in South Western Railway said they were ready to run special trains for migrant workers. On Tuesday evening, the state government decided to withdraw the requests made for 13 such trains to north India after realtors said they need the labourers here.

Migrants continued to stream into the railway station at Majestic, Bangalore International Exhibition Centre and even the bus station hoping for some travel arrangement. Many who were aware of the government web portal, stood in front of the BBMP ward office or police stations for enrolment.

In Varthur, over 100 migrants stood in front of the police station and sought to know what happened to the forms they had submitted four days ago. "We first went to the BBMP office and were shooed away by an official who directed us to go to the police station. We want to go home and demanded that the police help us. There was no response first. Then they came out and beat us," said Pintu Kumar from Mohanpur of Bhagalpur district in Bihar.

Though a video clip accidentally shot by Kumar showed two police personnel charging the cane at them, a police officer from the Varthur station, however, disputed the claim. "The video doesn’t show the cane landing on any person. We were beating the seat and tyre of two-wheelers to send the migrants away," he said.

At Mahadevapura, the workers came in groups and submitted the forms at the police station.

At the railway station in Majestic, a group of labourers from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand had walked from several areas in south Bengaluru only to be told that there is no train. Mahendra, a labourer from Jharkhand, said they received 5 kg rice and nothing else in the last 45 days. "Now, I don’t want food. I don’t want the job or money. I can't get stuck here. I want to go home,” he said.

'Restore dignity'

Activists and leaders wrote an open letter to Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa questioning the decision to cancel trains without consulting labourers and protesting the violation of their fundamental rights.

The letter had support of 522 organisations and individuals, including Dalit rights organisations and trade unions. It urged the government to restore the dignity of the migrant workers. "We demand recognition of the autonomy and dignity of the migrant workers to decide their travel plans. No one should be forced either to stay back or to return to their home states," it said.

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