Death of a mining town
Situated 6,215 feet above sea level, Kudremukh seems more like an idyllic retreat than home to India's largest iron ore mine.
January 1, 2006
Then: Situated 6,215 feet above sea level, Kudremukh seems more like an idyllic retreat than home to India's largest iron ore mine. The mining town sits amidst rolling hills and lush green forest, with the Bhadra river flowing softly 2 km in the north and the Kadambi waterfalls making a thunderous racket towards the south-west. For the 10,000 or so people who live in Kudremukh Iron Ore Company township, it's been a paradise for nearly three decades.
But now, there's trouble in paradise. On November 29, 2005 a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal dismissed a review petition and ordered that all mining activities be stopped by January 1, thus bringing to an end a 10-year battle between KIOCL and environmentalists, who claim that the company's open-cast mines have ruined the local ecology.
The Rs 1,854-crore public sector company, which made a net profit of Rs 650 crore last financial year, employs 2,000 people directly and another 2,200 on contract. Besides, there are 10,000 people who depend on either the company or its workers for survival. All of them must figure out a way to survive once the excavators go quiet this new year's day.
Says Deputy General Manager K.C. Balasubramanyam, a KIOCL veteran of 27 years: "Jobs of thousands of people are under threat and that means the local economy will be severely impacted."
Now: The excavators have been silent at Kudremukh since 2006. Kudremukh Iron Ore Company has renamed itself KIOCL Limited and diversified into pellet and ductile iron spun pipe manufacturing. In 2009-10, it recorded a turnover of `992.72 crore
Then: Situated 6,215 feet above sea level, Kudremukh seems more like an idyllic retreat than home to India's largest iron ore mine. The mining town sits amidst rolling hills and lush green forest, with the Bhadra river flowing softly 2 km in the north and the Kadambi waterfalls making a thunderous racket towards the south-west. For the 10,000 or so people who live in Kudremukh Iron Ore Company township, it's been a paradise for nearly three decades.
But now, there's trouble in paradise. On November 29, 2005 a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal dismissed a review petition and ordered that all mining activities be stopped by January 1, thus bringing to an end a 10-year battle between KIOCL and environmentalists, who claim that the company's open-cast mines have ruined the local ecology.
The Rs 1,854-crore public sector company, which made a net profit of Rs 650 crore last financial year, employs 2,000 people directly and another 2,200 on contract. Besides, there are 10,000 people who depend on either the company or its workers for survival. All of them must figure out a way to survive once the excavators go quiet this new year's day.
Says Deputy General Manager K.C. Balasubramanyam, a KIOCL veteran of 27 years: "Jobs of thousands of people are under threat and that means the local economy will be severely impacted."
Now: The excavators have been silent at Kudremukh since 2006. Kudremukh Iron Ore Company has renamed itself KIOCL Limited and diversified into pellet and ductile iron spun pipe manufacturing. In 2009-10, it recorded a turnover of `992.72 crore
