Mandya MP Sumalatha Ambareesh on Monday urged Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai not to allow quarrying and mining in and around Srirangapatna close to KRS dam based on the study report of the trial blasts proposed in the taluk.
A team of scientists from Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CIMFR), a CSIR institute in Dhanbad, Jharkhand is in Mandya district in connection with trial blasts at select places around KRS dam site, to study the impact of the mining on the safety of the dam.
While urging the Chief Minister to continue ban on mining around the dam site for the safety of the dam and also in the interest of the people and farmers, she said tremors had been felt in a radius of 20 km around the dam following legal and illegal mining done using bore blast, silent blast, and rig blast. If mining is allowed based on the report of the control blast, the safety of the dam and the people would be at risk, she claimed.
She said no steps had been taken for the drone survey of the quarries. Amidst this, the trial blasts have raised doubts among the people and the farmers, Ms. Sumalatha said in a letter to the Chief Minister, copies of which were released to the media on Monday.
The MP urged the CM not to come any decision on allowing mining in and around Srirangapatna based on the control blast report. “This is not just my opinion but also of the farmers and progressive organisations,” she said.
The trial blasts followed the controversy over the threat to the Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) reservoir from illegal mining and quarrying that raised by Ms. Sumalatha Ambareesh and supported by Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS).
Farmers under the banner of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha gathered at the main gate of KRS dam site on Monday to register their opposition to the trial blasts and demanded that mining should be banned in a radius of 20 km from the dam site.
Expressing fears that mining may resume, they urged the government to ban mining for the dam’s safety.
Police security has been stepped up at the dam site and also at the sites of trial blasts in Srirangapatna and Pandavapura taluks amidst the opposition from farmers.
