Denial of info by SoI on border demarcation raises eyebrows

Tapal Ganesh had sought details on methodology adopted by SoI on survey of Karnataka-AP boundary

The denial of information pertaining to details of the survey conducted by Survey of India (SoI) to demarcate Karnataka-Andhra Pradesh, in the backdrop of allegations of illegal mining in Ballari district, has raised eyebrows.

In its reply to applications filed under the Right to Information Act by Ballari-based miner and activist Tapal Ganesh, who had been questioning the survey methodology, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Geo-Spatial Data Center (AP&T GDC), the Survey of India, Hyderabad, has declared that details sought is “classified information covered under Section 8(1)(a) of RTI Act, 2005, and cannot be supplied.”

Mr. Ganesh, who has time and again alleged that the SoI survey team had “deliberately adopted the incorrect survey method” to protect BJP leader and mining baron G. Janardhan Reddy in illegal mining cases, had filed two applications in May, 2021, – one before the Deputy Director of Land Records, Ballari and other before the SoI’s AP&T GDC, Hyderabad. The former had forwarded the application to the latter.