Orissa Pradesh Congress president Niranjan Patnaik on Saturday dubbed the illegal mining activities in the state the “greatest loot” in the past hundred years and demanded a CBI probe into the matter. Mr Patnaik’s statement came close on the heels of the Orissa government slapped penalty notices on 27 mines operators asking them to pay a total of `58,000 crore for illegal mining.
“The imposition of penalties, which was a compulsion in view of the ongoing Shah Commission probe into the mining scam in the state, has in a way proved that the Orissa government extended whole-hearted support to the mines operators to plunder the mineral wealth. If the penalties amount to `58,000 crore, one can well imagine to volume of loot,” said the OPCC president.
Stating that the state government was on the overdrive since the Shah Commission gave its report on Goa mining, Mr Patnaik said during the last couple of months the state mining department had issued circulars, policy guidelines, closure notices, and formed a ministerial committee only to “hoodwink” the inquiry body. Refusing to buy the state government version that it had lost `58,000 crore revenue, the Congress leader said the actual loss would be more than `2.50 lakh crore.
“When the magnitude of the loot became apparent, as a responsible Opposition party we raised an alarm. We even demanded a CBI probe. Instead of ordering a CBI investigation, the state government decided to use the state vigilance to deflect attention from their own acts of omission and commission. It even tried to entangle leaders of the Congress with the loot of Orissa’s resources,” Mr Patnaik alleged. He added, “Now the skeletons are tumbling out of the closet and the state government is admitting all the irregularities we had been pointing out, but only after seeing the Shah Commission’s report on Goa.”
The OPCC chief said the Naveen Patnaik government wanted to pre-empt the Shah Commission report.
Stating that the current attempt was to prove that the ruling BJD neither had any nexus with the mining mafia that looted the non-operational and non-leased areas nor with mining lease holders, the OPCC chief said the Naveen Patnaik government wanted to pre-empt the Shah Commission report.
“By taking some after-thought steps, the BJD government hopes that when the matter is eventually investigated by the CBI, it can admit to omissions, deny acts of commission and evade criminal liability. They first tried to blame it on Indian Bureau of Mines,” he said.
for violation of mining plan. But, ultimately they have realised that the buck stops at the door steps of the state government,” Mr Patnaik observed.