Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee (JPCC) on Sunday termed auction of coal block as land capturing game. The party said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had talked about turning the Corona epidemic into an opportunity, and he has started auction of coal blocks in a bid to provide lands to industrialists in the name of auction, the party said.
Issuing a joint statement JPCC Spokespersons Alok Kumar Dubey, Lal Kishorenath Shahdeo, Rajesh Gupta said that at present capitalists of Maharashtra and Gujarat along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah are eyeing the land and property of Jharkhand.
Shahdeo said that in the last six-year tenure too, land has been acquired for other projects like the Adani Power project inGodda.
“Apart from this, amendment in the Land Acquisition Act was also attempted to benefit a group of capitalists and businessmen. The Central Government is currently selling stake in a total of 28 public sector companies (PSUs) of the Country. The Government has given in-principle approval for disinvestment or stake sale in these companies. At the same time, for the first time in the Country, efforts have been started to privatize the Indian Railway. The Central Government has decided to hand over 23 stations of the Country in private hands, for which online auction is also going to be held on June 28,” said Shahdeo.
Accusing the Prime Minister for promoting Adani Group, Dubey said that during the tenure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, six airports have also been handed over to private hands and these airports have been handed over to a particular group. “On the other hand, the condition of nationalized banks is also not hidden from people of the Country. People have now stopped moving towards the nationalised banks,” he added.
Gupta said that the issue of coal in Jharkhand is not only an issue related to revenue collection, but this issue is related to the life of people living here. “In view of the exploitation of workers in the coal mining sector, during the tenure of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi the coal company was nationalized, but at present again the Government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to push people into the same old system,” he added.
The Spokespersons said that the issue of coal mining is not just a matter of the Central Government, but it also requires the consent of the States and the process of auctioning of the coal block should be postponed, respecting the federal structure of the Country, as it is currently under lockdown when international airlines postponed, many companies will not be able to participate in the global tenders so that the entire auction process should be stopped and the Government should wait for the situation to normalize.
