Implement recommendation of Shah panel before Polls: Niranjan

Demanding implementation of the recommendations made by the Justice M B Shah Commission of Enquiry before the 2014 elections, senior Congress leader Niranjan Patnaik today raised question on the transparency claim of the ruling BJD govenrment in Odisha.
"For long I have been unequivocally demanding a CBI probe into the Mining Scam in Odisha. The State Government had taken a stand that the mining scam is under investigation by the Shah Commission. Now that the Commission has given its findings, the state government must implement the recommendations of the Commission and write to the Central Government to notify a CBI probe," the former PCC president Niranjan Patnaik said.

"The mining mafia continues to fund political parties and have naturally received political protection. They will utilize more of this money in the next election unless they are stopped by a thorough CBI investigation as has happened in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka," Niranjan said.
Charing the state government of being in a perpetual mode of denial on the mining scam, which is "the biggest corruption case in history of Odisha", Niranjan said "how can such huge loot take place if the Government was indeed honest".
Justifying his claim of a CBI probe into mining scam, Niranjan said a Judicial Commission is not a substitute to a proper and thorough investigation by a competent investigating agency.

He also claimed the investigation by the State Vigilance has been a complete white-wash.