Alleging that an Angul-based steel company and the Sharada Mines indulged in multi-crore illegal mining violating the rules due to the inaction of both the State and Union Governments, leader of the Opposition Narasingha Mishra on Saturday demanded a CBI probe into the matter.
Raising the sensitive issue in the Assembly as a Special Mention, Mishra urged Speaker Niranjan Pujari to direct Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to make a statement in the House within mandatory 48 hours listing the steps taken by the Government against the mine owners for violation of the Mineral Concession Rule 37 of the MMDR Act.
Mishra said the Thakurani B iron ore mine was leased out to Sharada Private ltd, but violating the law the Sharada mine transferred the mine to the steel company without obtaining prior consent of the State and Central Governments.He regretted that though the Sharada Mining was the lessee of Thakurani B mines, there was a move to transfer the mine to the steel company, which established a crusher unit within the prohibited area and exported the minerals to Chhattisgarh and made profits to the tune of crores of rupees.
Mishra said raw material worth more than Rs 10,000 crore was lying in the mines area and the company planned to export the material outside the State.The Government, Mishra said, has ironically not engaged any competent lawyer to fight its case in the High Court to protect the property worth thousands of crores of rupees.