CEC visit: Damages near Canara Mines found

CHITRAGURGA: Supreme Court appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC), on a district visit to assess the affect of mining on the environment, swung into action on Sunday. A team led by PV Jaikrishnan, accompanied by member Mahendra Vyas, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest Dr U V Singh and director department of Mines and Geology HR Srinivas, that arrived by road from Bangalore to Hiriyur around 4 pm, immediately went to Lakkihalli’s Lakshminarasimha mines, operated by Swaroop Reddy, and assessed the damage on the                           environment. Thereafter they moved to Canara Mines of Hosadurga taluk, where damages on the environment were very high.   The team later returned to Chitradurga where they will hold discussions with                        officials. On day two, the team is visiting Sesa Goa (A Narrain Mines), BBH and John Mines located at Bheemasamudra and Megalahalli villages of Chitradurga taluk before departing for Tumkur. Key functionary of Samaj Parivartana Samudaya Vishnu Kamat was with the team. It may be recalled that the Apex Court’s decision of constituting the CEC came into effect with the NGO filing a petition on illegal mining in Karnataka. When Express tried to get more information on the matter, Kamat refused to make any comments.