Bengaluru: The government can provide a large portion of the RS 15,000 mining mining compensation fund for the Taluk Ballari, and this can come at the expense of Vijayanagara’s new district.
According to Privy officials for this problem, the share of funds can be 67 percent for Ballari and the rest for Vijayanagara, mostly, because of the assessment of ecological damage because illegal mining shows that most occur in Sandur and Ballari Taluks in Ballari District and not Hospet in the Vijayanagara district.
Anticipating the problem, the Chairperson of the Bukavaraj Minister Bommai pushed the distribution of funds up to 2023-24.
At a recent meeting of Vijayanagara District Formation, he said the current action plan under Karnataka Mining Environment Restoration Corporation (KMERR) and district mineral funds (DMF) will continue for the next two fiscal.
New funds can increase the development of Ballari, which lose tourism income obtained from empty to Vijayanagara.
An official said: “In accordance with the previous direction, the Ballari district which is influenced by mining.
Therefore, Vijayanagara will get a smaller portion of funds.” Ballari has Rs 13,378 Crore under the KMerc which has 12 categories.
As per the revised plan, Ballari will get Rs 8,968 Crore and Vijayanagara Rs 4,415 Crore.
The government can divide the DMF in the same ratio, with Ballaries get RS 670 Crore and Vijayanagara Rs 330 Crore.
Vijayanagara, banking funds for the development of HOSPET, Kudligi and Hagribommanahalli Taluks where mining causes significant ecological and social imbalances, can struggle financially under the new funding regime.
While Kudligi and Hagribommanahalli faced a marginal impact, Hospet saw heavy damage because 80 percent of iron ore taken from sandbur went to the main steel producer in the region.
“Based on this assessment, we decided to provide a smaller part of the funds to Vijayanagara,” said an official.