It will be a while before Karnataka can expect any grant from the Centre for drought relief.

The Central drought assessment team headed by Parvesh Sharma on Wednesday directed the State government to furnish detailed statistics within a week’s time. The officials, at a meeting presided over by Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda, expressed dissatisfaction over the information provided by the Gowda-led all-party delegation in its memorandum.

The Central team touring the State to assess the drought situation has concluded that the drought in Chitradurga district is severe.

A member of the team, D Rajashekar, Deputy Advisor, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, New Delhi, told mediapersons in Chitradurga on Tuesday that the water table had depleted and borewells have dried up. The team will recommend to the Centre in its report to roll out development schemes to alleviate the sufferings of the drought-affected, he said. He commended the officials for the drought-relief works taken up in the district.

The State government was resorting to “jugglery of words” when speaking about the Netravati diversion project and the Yettinahole project, member of the Western Ghats Task Force B.M. Kumaraswamy said here on Wednesday.

Speaking to The Hindu here on the sidelines of a programme organised by the task force and the Department of Forests, Mr. Kumaraswamy said the government was denying that there was any attempt to divert the Netravati, and instead it was saying that it would supply drinking water to Kolar, Chickballapur, Chitradurga and Bangalore Rural districts from the Yettinahole, a tributary of the Netravati, he said.

The illegal mining scam has not deterred mining companies from making a beeline for Karnataka. Over 19,000 applications seeking permission to excavate ore in the State are pending with the government.

Data compiled by the Union Ministry of Mines shows that of the 42,535 pending applications seeking permission for mining in various mineral-rich states in the country, (as on April 19), more than 45 per cent (19,351) of them are pending in Karnataka alone — the highest in the country.

Vedanta group firm Sesa Goa today said it expects mining operations in Karnataka to begin "soon" as it has submitted reclamation and resettlement plan for its mine in Chitradurga district to an apex court appointed panel that is looking into the illegal mining issues in the state. Closure of operations in Karnataka due to a mining ban imposed by the Supreme Court last year has led to a decline of 27 per cent in iron ore miner's production in 2011-12.

Sesa Goa has reported a decline of 36 per cent in its consolidated net profit to Rs 2,695.50 crore for 2011-12.

Sesa Goa, a Vedanta Group company, already seeing erosion in profits due to a mining ban in Karnataka, is facing fresh trouble in Goa, with a stop-mining order on a petition from locals.

A sub-divisional magistrate (Bicholim) has directed immediate stopping of work at its Phase-III mines in Advalpal village (north Goa). Phase-I and -II mining operations in the area were stopped earlier. Sesa Goa sources 15 mt of ore from Goa annually. From Phase-III, it gets 200,000 tonnes of ore.

SC nod can lead to production of 6-7 mt from 49 category A, B mines

The shortage of iron ore in Karnataka is likely to ease by July, as regular mining is expected to resume in a couple of months from now. The Supreme Court-appointed authorities are preparing reclamation and rehabilitation (R&R) plans, stoking hopes of an end to the stalemate. Once the apex court approves the plans, mining can resume in 49 leases of 50-hectares and above falling under the A and B category mines in the districts of Bellary, Chitradurga and Tumkur.

New Delhi: While former Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa may have come under the scanner of Supreme Court’s Central Empowered Committee (CEC) in two specific cases of making financial gain from miners, the entire case of illegal mining in the state and the wealth stolen could end with a fine of less than Rs 450 crore and most of the miners could continue their operations, though under supervision and new regulations.

In a relief for the mining industry, the Supreme Court today proposed resumption of operations in 45 iron ore mining leases in Karnataka, provided they abide by the Reclamation and Rehabilitation (R&R) plan put in place. This follows a recommendation from the Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) investigating illegal iron ore mining in the state, especially in Bellary, Chitradurga and Tumkur districts. The 45 mines include those of NMDC, Mineral Enterprises Ltd and two leases of Mysore Minerals Ltd, among others.

Bangalore Mining in Karnataka is back on its feet. The Supreme Court has allowed mining to resume in iron ore mines of more than 50 hectares after rehabilitation and reclamation plans (R&R) for these leases are approved by the Central Empowered Committee (CEC).

The court accepted the recommendatations of the CEC which refer to restarting mining in two groupings of mines referred to as A and B groups, a classification that the panel had made based on a survey of the extent of irregularities. The two groups together constitute some 100 mines.