Congress accuses Chhattisgarh govt of selling state's mineral wealth

Stating what it could be a startling revelation even for the members of treasury benches and ministers, a senior Congress member on Monday reportedly “exposed” the BJP-led Chhattisgarh government for allegedly selling state’s mineral wealth.

Mohammed Akbar, a senior Congress legislator and former minister, lashed out and charged that the state government had ignored all establish norms in allotting mines. He added that the state government was also keeping its eyes closed while the corporate houses were illegally mining and selling Chhattisgarh’s valuable resources.

Shifting his target to the Vedanta-controlled Bharat Aluminium Company Limited (Balco), Akbar said the company illegally mined about 15,000 trucks of bauxite from the Mainpat area in Sarguja district while the state authorities looked the other way. The administration took action only after coming under pressure from different quarters.

“Interestingly, Balco management in its explanation said that they had been requesting for the mining approval and started the mining operations in anticipation that the company would get the nod,” Akbar said, adding the government later filed a case in the court. But in court, a senior officer of the company challenged the government by stating that he accept all the charges and the company had illegally mined bauxite in the area.

Akbar said the Balco official daringly confessed that illegally mining had taken place but the state government could not do much against him. “The officer got away by paying a penalty of just Rs 20,000 while the company illegally mined 15,000 trucks of bauxite,” Akbar added.

Raising the issue of bauxite lease granted to Balco in Kabeerdham district, Akbar said that the agreement clearly mentioned that the company would use the raw material only for the captive use in its Korba-based facility. “But the company is transporting bauxite to its Lanjigarh plant in Orissa and there is no information that the alumina produced is brought back to Korba for producing aluminium,” the Congress legislator added.

Akbar also raised the issue of Delhi-based Prakash Industries and alleged that the state government was giving shelter to the company for illegally coal mining in Korba district. “A magazine had published that Prakash Industries had sold coal worth Rs 4000 crore in the black market while the state government said it was not aware of any violation committed by the company,” he added.

The case of Neco Jaiswal and Godawari Ispat was also unique. The state government recommended prospecting license for both the companies in Rajnandgaon district despite it had never submitted mining plan. Violating all the norms, the state government granted permission for drilling.The Chief Minister, Raman Singh is likely to reply on the issues on Tuesday.