The epic proportions of the illegal mining scam that was uncovered by the Karnataka Lokayukta in its 2011 report may actually have been just one act of a much larger, more complex and multi-layered drama.

1. http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/mining-scam-keeps-getting-bigger/article4820758.ece?homepage=true
The epic proportions of the illegal mining scam that was
uncovered by the Karnataka Lokayukta in its 2011 report
may actually have been just one act of a much larger, more
complex and multi-layered drama.

2. There is now new evidence to suggest that the
Lokayukta’s final report on illegal mining – a political
game-changer that sent the powerful to jail and
catalysed a regime change in the state – is just one
part of the mining story. A six-month-long
investigation by The Hindu, with help from
whistleblowers in the Railways, the Karnataka
Commercial Taxes Department and the CBI, points
to losses to the State exchequer between January
2006 and December 2010 that are, at the very least,
Rs. 1 lakh crore or eight times the estimated figure
given in the Lokayukta report. The investigation also
shows that the State lost Rs. 2,000 crore in
commercial taxes. The new information suggests
that the dominant narrative on illegal mining, namely,
that illegal ore was mainly exported to China to feed
an infrastructure boom triggered by the Beijing
Olympics, is actually a very partial telling of the
mining scam story. The new data with The Hindu
furthers the depth and reach of the mining scam, a
part of which was so exhaustively covered in the
Lokayukta report.
#miningstory: http://promotion.blackhawk-mining.com/

3. Some our central findings are
as follows:
The Lokayukta report says that 12.57 crore tonnes of iron ore was
exported overseas from Karnataka between 2006 and 2010. However,
documents with The Hindu reveal that nearly 35 crore tonnes of ore was
transported out of Bellary in the same period. If one were to deduct the
12.57 crore tonnes exported (as per Lokayukta report), the remaining the
22.43 crore tonnes was sold in the domestic market. The Lokayukta report
estimates the losses to the exchequer at Rs. 12,228 crore. The
organisation’s calculation was based on the fact that the government had
given permits for extraction for only 9.58 crores tonnes of ore. Subtracted
from the 12.57 crore tonnes exported, it meant that 2.98 crore tonnes of
ore was illegally mined and exported. The Lokayukta estimated the price
of ore exported at an average of Rs. 4,103 per tonne. What explains the
divergence between the findings of the Lokayukta and those of The
Hindu? The Lokayukta has relied on Customs Department data on ore
shipments exported from 10 ports in Karnataka, Goa, Tamil Nadu and
Andhra Pradesh between 2006 and 2010, to calculate the quantum of ore
that left the country.

4. By contrast, The Hindu has looked at the total quantity of ore transported out of
Bellary by road and rail. Railway documents show that 20 crore tonnes of iron ore
was transported out of Bellary from six railway stations and 14 railway sidings
between 2006 and 2010. Of this, nearly 19 crore tonnes of ore was marked “for
export”. From data sources in the CBI and Commercial Taxes Department, we know
that lorries carried at least 14 crore tonnes of ore out of Bellary by road in the nine
months between September 2009 and June 2010. “This was when the Bellary
[Reddy] brothers had rebelled against B.S. Yeddyurappa’s government. The rebellion
was a smokescreen to intensify illegal mining. At least 20,000 trucks were leaving
Bellary each day in that period,” a CBI official told The Hindu. Leaving out these nine
months, on each day between 2006 and 2010 an average of 1,000 lorries left Bellary,
with an average load of 32 tonnes of ore per truck. This adds nearly another 4 crore
tonnes to the overall tally.