A pall of gloom descended on the over 100 mining fields and steel industry hubs in the district as the Supreme Court’s green bench ordered a blanket ban on mining over the 10,868 hectares of reserved forest land in the district till further orders. “This is the mining industry’s darkest day,” said Bellary-Sandur-Hospet Mine Owners Association secretary Hothur Mohammed Iqbal.
“Banning is not the solution. The illegal activities of a handful should not be the basis for banning mining which is the backbone of growth and development. The entire economy will be affected and there will be largescale unemployment,” he warned, obviously taking little comfort from the observation of the green bench headed by Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia that “on account of the misdeeds of others, the whole area of Bellary cannot do anymore excavation”.