KARWAR : It has come to light of late that the Karwar Deputy Conservator of Forest R
Gokul who was instrumental in seizing 8,05,991 metric tones of unauthorized ore that
was set to be exported from Belekeri port, and was subsequently suspended, has been
waging a legal battle against the illegal ore business.
Gokul had also brought to the notice of the court the different facets of the ore industry
and exporters and had even been successful in securing a court stay against export of
ore from Belekeri, Karwar or Mangalore port until the investigation into the case of the
missing 5,00,000 metric tones of ore from Belekeri port, was complete.
The court orders had come on April 19 and May 20, 2010.
The quantity of ore seized was later ascertained and it came to light that the seized ore
accounted to 8,05,001 metric tonnes. As the forest department neither had enough staff
nor alternate arrangements, the task of guarding the ore had been entrusted to the port
officials. In reality, the exporters had shown records for only for 3 lakh metric tonnes of
ore, and the rest 5 lakh metric tonnes of unaccounted ore had been seized.
It was this unaccounted ore worth nearly Rs 250 crores which was reported stolen from
Belekeri port. Meanwhile, an officer of Belekeri port is facing the allegation of abetting
the task of exporting the seized ore.
It was after this incident that DCF Gokul had lodged a complaint with the Ankola police
saying the ore in possession of the port department had been stolen resulting in loss of
revenue to the government and forest department.
It is now being said that the seized ore had been exported from Mangalore and Karwar
ports. The question now is whether the port officials in Mangalore and Karwar too had a
role to play behind this illegal activity.
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