Mandya: Mandya JD(S) MP C.S. Puttaraju and his stone quarry business, in which his nephews are partners, has come under the scanner with the Department of Mines and Geology slapping a fine of Rs. 90 lakh for carrying on illegal mining in the deemed forest area of Pandavapura taluk.

The Department issued a notice to all quarry owners, including MP Puttaraju and his nephews C. Ashok and C. Shivakumar, the owners of STG Stone Crushers, to pay a fine of Rs. 40,68,828 for continuing to mine after the lease period  had lapsed.

The remaining Rs. 50 lakh penalty was imposed on 16 other quarries reportedly owned by Mysuru City Corporator Nataraj (Rs. 2,31,488), Rizwan (Rs. 2,70,900), Narasimhegowda (Rs. 2,65,212), K.S. Nagaraj (Rs. 3,15,000), R.T. Dinesh (Rs. 3,23,616), Narasimhegowda (Rs. 2,98,350) and others.

K.R. Ravindra, an RTI activist from Mandya, had recently filed a complaint with the Karnataka Lokayukta against Puttaraju, alleging illegal stone quarry mining in Baby Betta Amrut Kaval, a deemed forest area in Pandavapura taluk.

Ravindra, in his complaint, had also accused officials of failing to take legal action against illegal stone quarrying. Following the complaint, K.M. Nagabushan, a senior Geologist with the Mines and Geology Department, issued notices to all stone quarry owners to pay the fine, failing which legal action would be taken against the defaulters. The penalty notices were issued to the units for mining beyond the lease period of 2013, it is learnt.

Meanwhile, RTI activist Ravindra alleged that officials have imposed the fine with retrospective effect fearing that they would face a probe by Lokayukta for colluding with stone quarry owners.

He demanded that the Mandya District Administration conduct a survey a Baby Betta and other Government land in order to have a clear picture on encroachment of forest lands in Chinakurali and surrounding villages of Pandavapura taluk.