By Our Correspondent
JODA/BARBIL/BHUBANESWAR: During his 2-days Keonjhar visit, Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Majhi had said that those who have looted DMF, those non-Odia mining mafia who are looting Odisha won’t be spared and would be sent to Keonjhar and Jharpada jails.
Now, all eyes are on what action will be taken against those Illegal Mines Owners-Traders -Contractors who got away by just paying Penalties as per the Shah Commission’s directives
With Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi directly targeting the mining mafia, all eyes are on what action will be taken against those who got away by just paying penalties as per the Shah Commission’s directives.
Odisha Steel and Mines Minister Bibhuti Bhushan Jena informed that the Shah Commission’s recommendations are being examined and the departmental process has been initiated.
“ All the points in the Shah Commission’s recommendations will be implemented individually, take it as the investigation has already been started. Mining looters will be apprehended.,” said Minister Jena.
The infamous Rs 800-crore Uliburu mining scam of Deepak Steel and Power Ltd, Ram Bahadur Thakur, Indrani Patnaik, B Prabhakaran’s Thriveni Earth Movers Pvt Ltd’s Sub Lease issue, powerful Ahluwalia Brothers dominance in Nuagaon Mines like Big size block, illegal mining by KN Ram Group, Mala Roy Mines, Lal Trade Agencies, KJS Ahluwalia Group, then came a larger scam worth over Rs 60,000 crore mining scam, which was investigated by the Shah Commission on recommendation of Justice MB Shah Commission. Many leading Companies were involved in it.
The Shah Commission had directed the then Naveen Patnaik led BJD Government to collect a fine of about Rs 18,000 crore from 13 mining companies and take action against the mine owners. As per reports, the state government couldn’t collect Rs 2,965 crore. Surprisingly enough, it didn’t take any action against the mine owners.
The Odisha Legislative Assembly witnessed uproarious scenes over another mine scam on December 5, 2022. The Opposition had alleged kickbacks in increasing the lease tenures of some mines.
On May 26 , 2024, just five days before the counting of votes, the former BJP president and the present Deputy Chief Minister KV Singh Deo, said the party had raised the illegal mining issue and ,large scale irregularities in the State Assembly during 2009-10 but the State Government downplayed and diverted it . ‘2 types of mining were going on in the State, including mining by lease holder and lease holder, whose lease period expired and applied for renewal and continued mining by submitting details to IBM while others were mining without any lease or mines and they were looting minerals , which BJP had raised but no action taken against them yet,” he had said.
‘Once BJP Government takes charge, it will look into all details of mining scam and reach to a logical conclusion to penalise illegal mine owners, mining contractors and illegal lease holders,” he said. ‘We will reach to the logical conclusion of Odisha Mining scam,” he had then said.
Even the Justice MB Shah Commission reports did not figure such large scale illegal mining by those people due to State Government’s support to illegal mine owners, Singh Deo had, said. Now with BJP in power, a probe likely soon, sources said.
In January 2024, Leader of Oppositions and now Minister Jayanarayan Mishra had claimed that out of the 192 leased mines, 176 are in forest areas of which 98 are operating without forest and environment clearance.
He said of the 98 leased mines, 47 were running without forest clearance, while around 55 were adversely affecting rivers, rivulets, flora and fauna, and tribal populations in different parts of the state.
Mishra had then alleged that irregularities have also been noticed through excess exploration of minerals from around 75 iron ore and manganese mines.
He had also claimed many such mines were located near elephant corridors in Sundergarh and Keonjhar districts, which adversely affect the lives of the jumbos. The BJP leader also demanded that the recommendations made by the Shah Commission should also be implemented to avoid irregularities in Odisha’s mining sector.
