By Our Correspondent
JHARSUGUDA/BHUBANESWAR: The M.C. Agarwal and Anurag Agarwal owned SMC Power Generation Ltd, which has plants in Odisha’s Jharsuguda was on Tuesday came under scanner after the BDO and Tehsildar filed an FIR against the Company for violation of COVID guidelines.
The FIR said that Bindu Bhushan Mohanty, an employee of SMC Power Generation Limited located In Hirma GP violated the guidelines of COVID-19 and left his residence and checked in on July 25 evening in Hota Guest at Sarabahal with the knowledge of Guest House Manger and Authority of SMC.
The officers have alleged in the FIR that Mohanty, Guest House Manager and Authority of SMC have deliberately violated the norms of guidelines. The FIR said Mohanty was working in Power Plant, SMC regularly from July 25 to August 3 despite having the knowledge about the present corona pandemic.
K Rabinder Kumar, Head of the Department, knows very well about the situation. On August 1, three positive cases are found and they are employees of Power Plant SMC, Hirma.Mohanty’s name was found in contact tracing list and accordingly nasal swab of Mohanty was taken by the medical team on August 4 in Hirma Camp and Mohanty was found positive corona patient on August 10.
The FIR further alleged that he checked in Meghadoot Hotel on August 5 and no intimation was given to the administration or police.The officer urged in their FIR that action may be taken against the offender under Epidemic Diseases Act as well as guidelines of government. They demanded that action be initiated against Mohanty under u/s 188,269 and 270 of IPC, section 3 of Epidemic Diseases At 1897.
Sources said Block Development Office Prasana Kumar Pande and Tehsildar & Executive Magistrate, Kolabira-Cum-incident Commander COVID, Golak Bihari Mangaraj, in their joint FIR lodged at Town Police station alleged that on July 25 a corona patient was found in Power House lane, Sarabahal. The Collector & District Magistrate, Jharsuguda on July 26 declared it as a containment zone.
Recently the Noida-based SMC Power Generation had acquired the main steel mill and power plant of Concast Steel and Power Ltd in a liquidation process. Concast had capacity to produce 7.75 lakh tonnes per annum of sponge iron and pig iron, 2.5 lakh tonnes of TMT steel bars, structures and ferro alloys. SMC has also acquired a 70MW captive power plant as part of this.
SMC Power Generation has installed capacities to produce 2 lakh tonne of sponge iron per annum, 3.5 lakh tonne of billets, 2.5 lakh tonne of TMT and captive power generation of 33 MW in Jharsuguda in Odisha.
“The Company’s plant in Jharsuguda has been creating a lot of air and water pollution in Jharsuguda-Sambalpur Industrial belt. The Company has also violated many laws of Forest and Environment and Wildlife Protection Acts,” said Sushant Dash, an activist in Bhubaneswar. “We have urged the Directorate General of GST Intelligence, Bhubaneswar Zonal Unit to look into company’s GST issues,” he added.
Locals in Jharsuguda alleged that using illegal means and ways going “A CBI raid in Jharsuguda, Noida and Raipur will expose all Company’s illegal network,” he added. The studied silence of Naveen Patnaik led BJD Government in Odisha over illegal activities in and air-water pollution in Jharsuguda-Sambalpur region by SMC Power Generation Ltd raise questions.
Without wanting to be identified, a businessman associated with materials supply to the industries of Jharsuguda said that many steel and power industries including SMC Power Generation Pvt Ltd were collecting raw materials – such as iron ore and coal – illegally without paying taxes for a long time.But the inflow of such illegally-obtained raw materials was checked all of a sudden with the state government acting tough on the violation and ensuring strict checking of ore-laden materials in the region.
