Six years on, Ballari’s mined areas still degraded

The Indian Forest Act stipulates that once mines are closed, the mining company and other stakeholders must undertake rejuvenation of the area denuded by mining activity.
A lorry and an earth-mover at a mining site at Kamathur village in Ballari district. Image used for representational purposes.
A lorry and an earth-mover at a mining site at Kamathur village in Ballari district. Image used for representational purposes.

BENGALURU : It has been six years since Category A and B mines in Ballari district were closed and now lie defunct, but the areas covered by the mines have not yet been rejuvenated and rehabilitated despite Supreme Court orders and contract agreement.

The Indian Forest Act stipulates that once mines are closed, the mining company and other stakeholders must undertake rejuvenation of the area denuded by mining activity. However, the firms involved in mining in Ballari district have merely abandoned the mines, leaving the resultant problems unresolved.

A monitoring committee, comprising of retired Indian Forest Service officers, had made recommendations on the work to be undertaken after mining operations were closed. However, the committee too was unable to visit the areas to ascertain the present status. This has been revealed by a recent report prepared by the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), Dehradun. To remedy the situation, the Karnataka Forest Department has decided to take up the task itself, as the area to be revived is forest land where wildlife needs to be improved.

No review of ground situation despite apex court orders: Report

The Category A and B mines, which have come under the focus in the ICFRE report, are those where mining cannot take place anymore, due to these being exploited to their limits, leading to the mining companies abandoning them. As per the categorisation of mines done by the Central Empowered Committee (CEC), Category A mines are those with no violations; Category B are with minor violations; while Category C mines are those where major violations of rules were found.

The ICFRE has drawn rehabilitation and rejuvenation plans for A- and B-category mines, and its teams are still preparing plans for C-category mines. ICFRE researchers and officials said there has been no review of the situation on the ground, despite orders issued by the Supreme Court. The ICFRE has also suggested that a third party inspect the mined areas and the work done there, but that exercise too has not been undertaken. Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Sanjai Mohan, said he had held a meeting with ICFRE to understand what needs be done.

Now, a meeting of all stakeholders, including the ICFRE, monitoring committee, the locals, forest department officials and the mine company owners will be held in March to decide and chalk out a rehabilitation and rejuvenation plan. “We do not want to have quickgrowing species (of trees) which will disturb the forest species. Thus, the meeting will decide the trees to be planted and how they need to be maintained. The areas which have been mined are forest areas, so we will now have to take care of them. Wildlife will bounce back once some tree species are planted.

There is no dearth of funds to take up the work. The monitoring committee has sufficient funds which were deposited by the companies and will be used now,” Mohan added. Meanwhile, locals and wildlife have made a comeback in small patches, where mining no longer takes place and the exercise is needed for it to improve further.

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