The Government of Karnataka now finds itself in a cleft stick on the issue of renewing the mining lease to the Kudremukh Iron Ore Company in view of the pressures and counter-pressures being exerted on it. Both the company and the Centre are bringing gentle and not-so-gentle pressure on the Government for extending the lease for mining operations in the Kudremukh National Park area. But there is vehement opposition from environmental groups to this on the ground that allowing mining activities in the area situated in the Western Ghats, deemed to be a bio-reserve, would pose a threat to the environment. Whereas the park area covers about 60,032 hectares, the activities of the company are being carried out on 4,605 hectares. The Government has asked the Chief Secretary to go into the issue of renewing the extended lease which has expired now and submit a report. If there is scope for apprehensions in the minds of environmentalists and others on this score to get accentuated, it is mainly because of the failure of both the administrators and policy-makers to earnestly address such concerns of the people and take effective measures to allay them. The manner in which successive Governments have dragged their feet on conducting a study on the carrying capacity of coastal districts is a case in point. It is in this backdrop of mutual distrust that the public have misgivings on the move to extend the mining area of the company to Nellibeedu and the Gangadikallu, which is the birthplace of the River Tunga, the lifeline of the Malnad and coastal regions. The glib assurances on taking measures to conserve the river and environment will fail to hold water since such promises have turned out to be hollow in respect of the Bhadra River.
Yet, none of this can be a valid ground for blind opposition to the entire mining activity. The thrust of the opposition, instead of being dogmatic, should be pragmatic and culminate in bringing constructive pressure on the powers that be to take foolproof measures to conserve the ecological balance without bringing economic development and industrial activity to a halt. These pressure groups should ideally serve the role of alert sentinels of the environment without blockading economic growth.