By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR:Advertisement number 721, dated 26.02.2021, was published for the auction of Odashinga sand mine under Athamallik tehsil of Angul district. Rajkishore Mohanty has been selected as the successful bidder. But the auction was given to him through multiple scams and fake certificates, violating all government rules and regulations. After all this came to light through RTI data, this scam during the then BJD government has come to the fore. But no action has been taken so far.
Inconsistency – 1
The successful bidder, Rajkishore Mohanty, used a fake Solvency Certificate to participate in the auction process. While Mr. Mohanty submitted E-SLV/29 of 2020 as his, the certificate was issued to another person named T. Bhavani Parida, the Barang Tehsildar informed in his RTI (Letter No- 1977 on Dt – 07/04/2026).
Inconsistency – 2
Without checking the Solvency Certificate submitted by Shri Mohanty, the then Athamallik Tehsildar Swaroopananda Sahu auctioned the largest sand ghat in the state. After declaring the Success Bidder, he wrote a letter (letter no- 1077 on Dt-25.03. 2021) to the Barang Tehsildar for Solvency Genuine. But surprisingly, no such letter has reached the Barang Tehsil nor has any report been given by the Barang Tehsil after checking the Solvency Certificate Genuines. The Barang Tehsildar has informed in the same RTI report that no letter has reached the Barang Tehsil from Athamallik Tehsil. That is, Babu Swaroopananda had only written one letter and filled it in the file.
Inconsistency – 3
Non-Odisha companies are trading sand in Odisha by cheating some people of our state. The BJD government has handed over this largest sand ghat (347.07 acres) in Odisha to RBD Construction private Ltd. of Kerala.
– Shri Mohanty himself has not submitted EMD for this Balighat tender. Rather, a DD of Rs. 12 lakh 25 thousand has been submitted for him by RBD Construction Private Limited. Later, a security money of Rs. 87 lakh 38 thousand has also been deposited by that RBD company. Not only this, this company from Kerala (RBD Construction Private Limited) has made all efforts for tender fixing. This same company RBD Construction Private Limited has also deposited EMD for one of the bidders, Bansidhar Swain. It is clear that even if RBD gets the tender, it is a kind of tender fixing in its best interests.
Inconsistency- 4
On 24.03.2021, the tender was opened and Shri Rajkishore Mohanty was declared the successful bidder through FORM-F. On the same day, the Athamallik Tehsildar vide Letter No 1019/Touzi, dt-24.03.2021 directed to pay one-fourth of the EMD amount or Security Money by April 7. But Shri Mohanty did not pay any amount on the due date. After about 40 days i.e. on 17.05.2021, the Tehsil record book states that Shri Mohanty paid Rs. 87,38,200 through Cheque (Chaque No- 042480). Due to excessive delay in payment of money, the tender should have been automatically cancelled. But showing immense mercy, he has been declared the successful bidder. This amount was also given by RBD CONSTRUCTION PRIVATE LIMITED.
– The then Tehsildar Swarupanand Sahu, who showed immense compassion, was known as a BJD Marka Officer. After auctioning this sand mine as an eight-term Tehsildar, he was posted as Kishorenagar BDO and there he also managed the elections for BJD. In the 2022 Panchayat elections, he used to tell his staff to select candidates who are willing to win. We will provide weapons for the war. Since 3 District Councils are in the BJP party, the District Magistrate is also worried. So this time the audio went viral saying that the BJD candidate must win and he is well known as the Pandian Marka Officer.
Inconsistency – 5
On the day of tender opening or the day on which the successful bidder was declared (i.e. 24.03.2021), the successful bidder, Shri Mohanty, was absent. No authorized person was present on his behalf at the time of tender opening. Therefore, Shri Mohanty’s original document was not submitted to the officer or the original document was not verified. Not only this, after declaring him the successful bidder, he wrote a letter to the Barang Tahsildar to verify the validity of Shri Mohanty’s Solvency Certificate. How he was declared the successful bidder before verifying all his certificates has raised a big question mark.
Important Point
Non-Odia companies are trading sand in Odisha
RBD Construction Pvt Ltd has submitted all the money for the Odashinga sand pit in Athamallik. Along with the successful bidder Rajkishore Mohanty, the company has also submitted EMD for another bidder, Bansidhar Swain, for the sand pit. Bansidhar Swain has about 4 sand pits in his name across the state.
Total No. of Sand Quarries – 4
1- Purutiguda Sand Quarry, Gajapati – 13.68 Acre
(EC Date-02.03 2022)
2- Sikhardevi River Sand Quarry, Jgatsinghapur- 31 Acre
(EC Date- 15.05.2024)
3- Mahanadi River Sand Quarry, Jgatsinghpur- 23.9 Acre
(EC Date- 23.03.2025)
4- Mahanadi River Sand Quarry, Cuttack – 12.35 Acre
(EC Date- 9.12.2024)
This means that this non-Odia company is trading sand across the state in the name of Odia people.
