Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren today said there was neither any conspiracy nor any scam behind the now overturned decision to auction sand mining.
"There is neither any conspiracy nor any scam behind the decision to auction sand mining (as alleged by the opposition). Now, the decision has been rescinded following demands of political parties and the people," Soren told the House.
Replying to a special debate on the earlier decision to auction sand mining to private companies, Soren rejected Opposition charges of a scam.
The decision for auctioning the minor mineral had been taken by the previous Arjun Munda government, he said.
He said, the auctioning policy later was also decided during the President's rule and his (Soren) government had sought to implement it because it could have fetched Rs 400 crore to Rs 500 crore to the state exchequer and 80 per cent of the share would have gone to panchayats.
Referring to opposition's allegations to the recent Cabinet decision restoring the rights over sand mining to panchayats after scrapping the auction policy, Soren asserted that the decision was not taken under any political pressure.
Participating in the debate, opposition BJP demanded a CBI probe as it believed there was an alleged scam behind the auctioning policy.
