Housing Minister M. Krishnappa, two legislators, and the Deputy Commissioner took the district Mines and Geology officer K.M. Nagabhushan to task at the quarterly KDP review meeting on Tuesday for his alleged failure in curbing illegal stone quarrying and also attempting to mislead the meeting.
P.M. Narendra Swamy, MLA for Malavalli, and K.S. Puttannaiah, MLA for Melkote, expressed their anger against the department for not taking any concrete steps to curb illegal stone quarrying in and around Pandavapura. They accused Mr. Nagabhushan of shielding the stone quarry operators at the deemed forest area Baby Hills and demanded that the State government hand over the case of “illegal stone mining activities” to the CBI or the CID. When Mr. Krishnappa, who is also the district in-charge Minister, sought a clarification, Mr. Nagabhushan failed to provide a satisfactory reply and also attempted to mislead the meeting by saying that “all the stones quarried from the area were for government projects.”
DC N. Manjushri intervened and instructed the official “not to lie and behave like a responsible officer”.
ZP President J. Premakumari, B. Sharath, ZP CEO, and others were present.
