Thriveni Earthmovers Ltd, a mine raising contractor in dock for violation of Rule-37 under Mineral Concession Rules-1960, sought to steer clear of controversies, denying any statutory violation.
The contractor was grilled on Friday by the members of the Shah probe panel regarding its role in forging allegedly illegal alliance with mine lessees.
"The panel questioned us on Rule-37 violation and asked for a lot of documents. We stated before the commission that we have not violated any law. Definitely, we have give a lot of details to the panel. We are waiting for the Shah Commission's report”, said B Prabhakaran, managing director of Thriveni Earthmovers Ltd after facing the commission members.
"Thriveni is only the raising contractor for the lessees. Our company has nothing to do with their financial transactions or sales of ore by the miners. The miners are responsible for the quantity of ore raised. Many mining lessees have been issued notices. There are many old and big mine leaseholders like Tata Steel. They can explain the position on ore extracted”, he added.
The alleged nexus between the mine lessees and raising contractor Thriveni Earthmovers Ltd in the Joda mining circle in Koenjhar district had snowballed into a major issue with the MLAs of the Opposition Congress as well as the ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD) urging the Chief Minister to initiate stringent action against the miners as well as the contractor.
Lessees like KJS Ahluwalia, Indrani Patnaik and R P Sao were held guilty by the state mining department of violating Rule-37 of Mineral Concession Rules-1960 by forging illegal links with Thriveni Earthmovers.
