Cong demands joint survey to solve mining area dispute

Bangalore, Oct 23 (UNI) Senior Congress leader in Karnataka Mallikarjuna Kharge today demanded the state government to take initiative for holding a joint survey with Andhra Pradesh to settle the mining area dispute in Bellary district in the state.

Talking to newspersons here, Mr Kharge alleged that crores of rupees worth iron ore had been extracted from the land which belonged to Karnataka, which was, however, disputed by the Andhra Pradesh Revenue authorities.

In 1990, the Revenue officials of both Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka decided to hold a joint survey to resolve the issue.

However, no tangible effort was made to end the dispute, he said.

Charging that some vested interests, taking advantage of the dispute, had extracted a huge quantity of iron ore and sent it out of the state, Mr Kharge demanded that the state government take immediate steps to protect the state's wealth.

A Congress delegation, led by the Leader of the Opposition in Karnataka Legislative Council V S Ugrappa, would visit the disputed area, situated in Bellary district on the Andhra-Karnataka border, on October 26. The committee would submit a report to the party to take up the issue at an appropriate level, he added.

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