This is a bit late to blog about the closure of the Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Limited. That happened on December 31, 2005. But I am reminded of it because around this time last year, I was in Kudremukh, a bit incognito, to write about the pollution caused by the mining activities.

A year later, it's heartening to know that slurry no longer flows into the Bhadra river. However, for me, this was just one story, one 14-hour-drive through the Ghats and one byline, no matter how deep my concern. For people like Praveen Bhargav, Jagdish Krishnaswamy, Ullas Karanth and their colleagues, it was a battle drawn out over many years. Man against beast. Industry against environment. People against people. For, though I feel terribly relieved that KIOCL will no longer cause gashes in the verdant Ghats, I cannot help being concerned about its laid-off employees. Like those of KGF, another nightmare that refuses to end.