Members of the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha and progressive organisations on Tuesday staged a demonstration here opposing the proposed trial blasts in Srirangapatna and Pandavapura taluks and demanding a complete ban on mining in a radius of 20 km around the KRS dam site.
Arguing that farmers and others had opposed trial blasts earlier and the teams were sent back, the protestors said the government has once again taken steps to carry out trial blasts to study the impact of the stone quarrying and mining on the safety of the dam. “The present exercise doesn’t appear to be transparent. It seems as though the exercise was being carried out under pressure. The trial blasts need to be dropped,” they demanded.
Recalling the ‘Save KRS Dam’ campaign launched earlier by the farmers and others opposing mining in the area, they said experts too had opined against allowing mining near the dam site.
In a letter to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, the farmers and other organisations have demanded ban on mining around the KRS dam site in the interest of farmers and the people.
