Rs 6,105 cr penalty to be levied over mining violations

Maqsood Maniyar | NT

Bengaluru: Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs and Tourism HK Patil on Thursday disclosed that the State government would levy a penalty of Rs6,105 crores on private mining companies in a one time settlement (OTS) for violating the terms of their agreements.

He made the remarks in the backdrop of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah disclosing that the Cabinet had favoured an OTS.

“The total figure is Rs6,105 crores. It is since the last eight years if I’m not mistaken but it is approximate,” Patil said, adding that a subcommittee would oversee the process.

“That wasn’t recovered for several years. Now in a one-time settlement, the recovery process will be hastened and made effective. With that the government is expected to get more income,” he added.

Referring to the “encroachments”, he said the companies had been mining “beyond the areas allotted to them”.

“Even avoiding the royalty. Although they might have said they have excavated about 100 tonnes, they might have lifted 200 tonnes from the mine. All of these are minor mines,” Patil said, adding that the regular recovery process was bogged down by court cases, necessitating an OTS.

19 tourism proposal get nod

The minister added that the State government had sanctioned 19 proposals worth Rs266.06 crores to boost tourism in the state.

“To boost the Tourism Sector, 19 proposals worth 266.06 crore have been sanctioned by the High Power Committee. Enhancing the quality of tourism infrastructure, increasing job opportunities and enriching tourist experience in our state,” Patil said, adding that 1,495 jobs would be created in the process.

Patil said that the Cabinet had agreed on renaming the Backward Classes entry ‘Kodagaru’ to ‘Kodava’ as per the requests of delegations of the members of the caste.

However, he didn’t comment on the demand to include Kodavas in the Scheduled Tribes (ST) list.