THE STORY SO FAR...

The late 2000s saw the peak of an iron-ore mining boom that rode on huge demand for steel in China. In Karnataka, this saw reckless exploitation of mineral-rich Bellary that reached a climax in 2011. A Lokayukta probe that year exposed the magnitude of the illegal mining (an estimated 29 million MT illicit ore worth Rs 12,000 crore exported), leading to a political shakeup in Karnataka’s then ruling BJP government. Even today, mining magnate and former state minister G. Janardhana Reddy, part of the infamous ‘Bellary brothers’ who were accused of running a mafialike network, cannot enter the district without court permission. The SC ban came days after the Lokayukta report and stayed till September 2012. In between, the mines were categorised, restoration plans drawn up and eauctions put in place. In 2012, the first mines reopened, a few more the next year. In time, the cancelled leases were also reauctioned. Now exports are to resume.