Throwing a challenge to the State Government, Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram on Friday said he would quit politics if his claim of illegal stacking of huge quantities of iron ore by mafia at the Rengra railway siding in Sundargarh district is proved wrong.
Oram said this while responding to Steel and Mines Minister Prafulla Mallick's statement that no illegality has been marked at the railway siding. Mallick refuted Oram's claim that mines mafia have secretly buried iron ore
at the railway siding and nearby areas.
Mallick made this statement on the initial report of the Koida Deputy Director of Mines (DDM), who said that the stocks were not illegal and kept within the authorised area of the siding. The DDM justified his claim stating that his office has records in this regard.
"I do not accept the Minister's statement. I challenge him to prove me wrong. I will quit politics if my claim is proved untrue. let us visit the area along with media and dig the area," a visibly irate Oram told reporters here.
He wanted to know that how Mallick said that there is no illegality when the investigation is incomplete, "How the Minister trusts an officer without going into details," Oram pointed out.
Notably, Oram had on Thursday written to Union Mines Minister Narendra Singh Tomar urging him to conduct an inquiry into the illegally-kept minerals.
Oram said in the letter that the quantity of iron ore could be 30,000 to 40,000 MT as per local eyewitnesses.