Truce deal could hamper probe: Lokayukta
Any truce between chief minister B S Yeddyurappa and the Reddy brothers that involves the transfer of officials could hamper the ongoing Lokayukta probe into illegal mining in Bellary.
"There's a lot of our work on in Bellary and the present set of officials is cooperative. If they are changed, it will be difficult for us to carry out our investigations," Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde said.
As the rift between Reddy brothers and the chief minister intensified, Yeddyurappa had changed the entire Bellary administration, including the DC, DCF, SP and tahsildars. Along with the mining lease scam, the Lokayukta is also probing into charges of illegal mining by the Reddy brothers on 10 acres bordering Andhra Pradesh. At least four or five cases were lodged relating to illegal mining on forest land, where the Supreme Court had stayed mining lease issued to a company.
Chief conservator of forests U V Singh, who is assisting the Lokayukta with the mining probe, had visited the controversial spot last week.
"The first problem was that rain destroyed roads on the controversial forest land. However, Singh said some work had taken place and ore illegally transported. Since the personnel and machinery had been moved out of the place when Singh visited it, we have difficulty in saying who was mining in the area," Justice Hegde pointed out.
"The worrying factor is not finding direct evidence of illegal mining. The present DCF had earlier worked with us when we submitted the first mining report. He is an honest officer and he is cooperating. The new administration, including police and DC in the district, is cooperating with our investigation. I don't know what will happen after these officers are changed," Justice Hegde revealed.
The Lokayukta received a complaint that ore worth over Rs 1000 crore had been illegally removed from the forest.
Source: TOI
"There's a lot of our work on in Bellary and the present set of officials is cooperative. If they are changed, it will be difficult for us to carry out our investigations," Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde said.
As the rift between Reddy brothers and the chief minister intensified, Yeddyurappa had changed the entire Bellary administration, including the DC, DCF, SP and tahsildars. Along with the mining lease scam, the Lokayukta is also probing into charges of illegal mining by the Reddy brothers on 10 acres bordering Andhra Pradesh. At least four or five cases were lodged relating to illegal mining on forest land, where the Supreme Court had stayed mining lease issued to a company.
Chief conservator of forests U V Singh, who is assisting the Lokayukta with the mining probe, had visited the controversial spot last week.
"The first problem was that rain destroyed roads on the controversial forest land. However, Singh said some work had taken place and ore illegally transported. Since the personnel and machinery had been moved out of the place when Singh visited it, we have difficulty in saying who was mining in the area," Justice Hegde pointed out.
"The worrying factor is not finding direct evidence of illegal mining. The present DCF had earlier worked with us when we submitted the first mining report. He is an honest officer and he is cooperating. The new administration, including police and DC in the district, is cooperating with our investigation. I don't know what will happen after these officers are changed," Justice Hegde revealed.
The Lokayukta received a complaint that ore worth over Rs 1000 crore had been illegally removed from the forest.
Source: TOI
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