Goa BJP cites fodder scam to justify mining scam probe delay

On the backfoot over delay in action against Goa's mine-owners accused of partly orchestrating a Rs 35,000-crore illegal mining scam, state BJP President Vinay Tendulkar on Friday justified the delay using Laloo Prasad's fodder scam case as defence.

Asked to respond to allegations by the Congress that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was shielding errant mine-owners indicted by Justice M.B. Shah Commission, Tendulkar said: "You will know for how many years Laloo Prasad's case dragged. Whether it is fodder scam or other cases, they are going on even now after so many years."

Earlier in the day, Congress Secretary Girish Chodankar told a press conference that the BJP was shielding top mine owners accused of being part of the Rs 35,000-crore mining loot.

"The BJP government is shielding the mine-owners involved in the scam. That is why the investigation is going nowhere," Chodankar said.

The Shah Commission in its report, tabled in Parliament a few years back, had indicted Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, top bureaucrats and nearly all major mining companies for committing excesses in the state's mining sector that led to a loss of Rs 35,000 crore to the exchequer.

While the subsequent BJP-led coalition government appointed a Special Investigation Team to probe the case, the team appears to have made very little headway into the investigation.

--IANS

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