SC orders halt to Bellary mining

The Supreme Court on Friday stopped iron ore mining in Karnataka’s Bellary district after its environmental panel cautioned that forest cover over the region would be completely destroyed because of the unlawful operations of mining barons, whom the Centre and the state government had failed to stop despite warnings. The report of the apex court’s central empowered committee (CEC) said both the central and the Karnataka governments had done nothing to curb the illegal mining operations despite the Union environment ministry’s decision way back in 2001 not to allow fresh iron ore mining leases or renewal of existing ones in the Bellary-Hospet region without a detailed environment impact assessment (EIA) of the area by the state.