The Obulapuram Mining Corporation, owned by Karnataka Ministers G. Janardhan Reddy and G. Karunakara Reddy, has suspended mining operations and iron-ore transportation at Obulapuram in Anantapur district in the wake of the Supreme Court's Monday order, staying all mining-related work.
Obulapuram in D. Hirehal Mandal, which used to bustle with machines and iron ore-laden trucks, is now silent. The area has come under the control of the security guards of the Department of Mines of the Andhra Pradesh government.
Notices were formally served on OMC managing director Sreenivasula Reddy at Bellary on Tuesday to suspend all mining and transport operations at Obulapuram and surrounding villages in Andhra Pradesh. They were handed over personally by Chandra Mouli, Assistant Director of Mines, Kurnool district, who is holding the additional charge following the suspension of Sairam Singh, Assistant Director of Mines, Anantapur.
Mr. Sreenivasula Reddy told The Hindu over the telephone that the OMC had suspended all mining-related works. It gave an undertaking to the Supreme Court that it would cooperate with the Survey of India in conducting a re-survey of the mining area in the wake of allegations that the OMC had violated lease norms and expanded the area beyond the lease jurisdiction.
