Congress stages walk out over BALCO illegal mining case

The main opposition Congress today staged a walk out in the Chhattisgarh Assembly accusing the BJP government of shielding Bharat Aluminum Company Ltd (BALCO) officials in an illegal mining case.
Raising the issue through his starred question, Congress legislator Mohammed Akbar asked whether any case has been filed in the court against BALCO officials by the then Mining Officer of Kawardha in 2008 in connection with illegal mining and transportation of bauxite.
If a case has been filed, he demanded to know who were held responsible for excess mining and transportation and on what basis, as well as how much bauxite was mined in excess and what steps the department took to stop these illegalities.

In his written reply, Chief Minister Raman Singh, who also holds the mining portfolio, said that he informed the House that a case had been filed on January 26, 2008 in the designated court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Kawardha by Mining Officer Kawardha against the Chief Executive Officer and Mining Manager for extracting 5,28,753.58 metric tonnes in 2007-08 and a total 2,30,822.58 metric tonnes of excess bauxite in 2008-09 against the permitted quantity of three lakh metric tonnes, sanctioned under the mining lease as per the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification 1994.
The CM also informed the House that mining works were suspended from August 25, 2008 to March 31, 2009 in the mining lease area, for excess mining by BALCO.

He told the House that, on the basis of a report filed by the mining department, the court imposed a penalty of Rs 20,000 each on CEO Gunjan Gupta and Mining Manager S C Sao.
Countering the CM's reply, Akbar told him that when the incident of excess mining had taken place, the incumbent CEO was Pramod Sori and the Mining Manager was R P Gupta.
CEO Gunjan Gupta and Mining Manager S C Sao had taken charge after the incident.