Mining
A fight to the finish

The Bellary Iron Ore and Obulapuram Mining Company are embroiled in a bitter
battle of mining rights in Andhra Pradesh’s Anantpur district.

By Our Correspondent

The mineral-rich mining belt in Andhra Pradesh's Anantpur district is on the boil. The calm in the region was broken in January this year when workers of the two mining companies – Bellary Iron Ore and Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) – nearly came to blows accusing each other of trespassing in their mining lease hold areas.

What followed was a legal tussle and a muck-raising bout where allegations flew thick and fast about political-police nexus to benefit a particular company.

The dispute began over demarcation of the mining areas held by the two companies. Bellary Iron Ore holds the lease to mine rich iron ore deposits in H Siddapuram village and the adjoining Obulapuram, part of Hirehal Mandal of Anantpur district.

The government gives leasehold rights to companies for mining iron ore. Bellary Iron Ore holds the mining lease of about 26 hectares of Obulapuram and Sididapuram villages. In the same area, a portion of land has been leased out to Obulapuram Mining Company, owned by Karnataka MLC G Janardhan Reddy for extracting iron ore.

The trouble erupted on January 14 when Bellary Iron Ore alleged that around 50 armed men barged into Siddapuram village and put up sophisticated machinery for mining. Bellary Iron Ore claimed the armed men had encroached upon territory leased out to the company and drove its workers out.

The OMC lodged a counter claim, saying it had not broken any law. The dispute arose over the demarcation of areas given on lease to the two companies. Bellary Iron Ore went to the court seeking relief and the matter stands at that level.

The company alleged the state administration had acted in a partisan manner in favour of OMC at the behest of Andhra Pradesh chief minister YSR Reddy and his son. The allegations have been rejected by the local police in a written affidavit submitted in the court.

Even as the legal tussle continued, efforts were underway to clearly demarcate the areas held by the two companies. Officials of Bellary Iron Ore stayed away from the survey of iron ore mines near Obulapuram and H Siddapuram, saying they did not have faith on the officials who were favouring OMC.

The Andhra Pradesh High Court, in February, had dismissed a writ appeal filed by Bellary Iron Ore seeking to restrain OMC from mining. It claimed that OMC had encroached upon its mining area. The Court refused to intervene even as the Bellary Iron Ore claimed that it was losing iron ore worth Rs 1 crore every day.

Meanwhile, the Andhra Pradesh government held that Geological Survey of India was surveying the area to determine the borders. It said the present effort is to refix the boundaries of the villages.
The OMC's contention is that mining should be stopped till the dispute between the two companies was settled. It rejects the contention that it was carrying out mining in its own area.

The local police claimed that as of now, no permanent boundary has been fixed to demarcate the mining areas. Earlier, an attempt was made to conduct a survey and to fix the boundaries but nothing came out of it. The police claimed that investigations were still going on looking into the allegations made by the two sides.

The dispute in the hub of mining activities is not a healthy sign. An office of Bellary Iron, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that there is complete anarchy in the state and that the law and order situation was at its nadir.

Even as Bellary Iron and OMC are fighting out the matter in the court, it remains to be seen whether the state and central government imparts its duties.