Karnataka to regularise 'unauthorised' quarrying

The Karnataka Cabinet on Friday decided to amend rules allowing the regularisation of quarrying activity over and beyond the stipulated area.

The Karnataka Minor Mineral Concession (Amendment) Rules were approved in the Cabinet, Law & Parliamentary Affairs Minister J C Madhuswamy said, briefing reporters.

"When quarry licences are given, the area is marked out. But, sometimes, the licensee carries out quarrying beyond the stipulated area. We will regularise that and allow them to extract," Madhuswamy said. "This is mainly for stone-cutting that is done by hand."

Read | Stop collecting royalty retrospectively: Quarry owners

The move will not lead to misuse, the minister insisted. "A drone survey has been, royalty has been fixed and quantum of penalty is also defined," he said, conceding that miners and quarry owners are protesting.

"There are a number of issues with quarries. Have they paid royalty commensurate to the allotment of quarry area? We have the drone survey report on extent of excavation. If royalty isn't paid as per quarry area, then the penalty is in the ratio of one-is-to-five," Madhuswamy explained.

Quarry owners, Madhuswamy said, want the quantum of penalty to be reverted to the earlier one-is-to-one ratio. "Their argument is that they will have to pay Rs 5,000-6,000 crore because of the hike in the quantum of penalty," he said. "Also, they are against the drone survey. They say there are quarries that are 30-40 years old. They don't want to be penalised for mistakes done by someone else," he said.

In view of all this, Madhuswamy said a fresh survey has been ordered. "The baseline will be fixed. Quantity of excavation will also be fixed," he said.