The Kerala CPI(M) on Tuesday found itself in an unenviable situation with regard to the just-erupted mining scam with its State Secretariat member Elamaram Kareem facing the charge of accepting Rs 5 crore in 2008, when he was Industries Minister, from mining giant MSPl for permitting it for iron ore mining in an eco-sensitive forest area in Kozhikode district.
Subair, driver of TP Noushad, a close aide and relative of Kareem, told mediapersons on Tuesday that it was he who had driven the Toyota Innova car in which the Rs 5-crore was taken from a hotel in Thiruvananthapuram, where four men from the mining company had handed it over to Noushad, to the former Minister’s house in Kozhikode.
“The money was kept under the floor mat in the car when it was taken from Thiruvananthapuram to Kozhikode. At Kozhikode, Noushad took the money, packed in a bag, inside Kareem’s house. He came out of the house after some time without the bag and told me that I could go,” Subair said.
“I understood that there was Rs 5 crore in that lot when I overheard Noushad telling someone over the phone about it,” Subair said, adding that officials of the MSPl used to hold meetings with Noushad frequently. Kareem, now an MlA, rejected the accusation by saying, “The man raising this charge against me is an accused in several cases including a sex scandal.”
The CPI(M) was quick to defend Kareem with its Kozhikode district committee alleging that the charge was part of “a conspiracy being hatched by some mysterious forces” against him but party central committee member VS Achuthanandan, Opposition leader, called for a thorough probe.
Kareem said that he had nothing to do with the permission given for iron ore prospecting in 740 hectares of eco-sensitive forest land in Chakkittappara in Kozhikode district nor had he ever met anyone from MSPl. However, a representative of the mining company said that they had met Kareem twice when he was Industries Minister.
The State Department of Industries had on Monday decided to cancel permission for operations in 406 of the 740 hectares. The land where iron ore prospecting was being carried out by the company has been identified as eco-sensitive area, where no such activity could be allowed, in the K Kasturirangan panel report on Western Ghats ecology.
Subair felt that Kareem, Noushad and their associates were betraying MSPl by roping it in for mining iron ore as such an operation could never be carried out in an area like Chakkittappara for various reasons.
The Centre had given permission to MSPl for the pre-mining survey in 2009. The then lDF Government in its last days in 2011 had cleared the mining survey operations. MSPl was given time up to January 22, 2013 for the survey but it approached the Government as it was not completed in time. The Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests had in March this year instructed the Divisional Forest Officer, Kozhikode grant extension, which came in May this year when Chief Minister Oommen Chandy was in charge of the Forest Department.
Mohana Varma, consultant of MSPl in Kerala, told the media that the permission for the survey was given the knowledge of Kareem as part of the then lDF government’s policy. “We came into the project as per the direct invitation from then Industries Secretary T Balakrishnan. We had held discussions in his chamber,’ he said.
Varma said that the company had submitted a detailed report to the then lDF government. However, he said that the Forest Department had not given permission for mining at that stage and that this was given after the Congress-led UDF came to power. He said that the company had planned to invest Rs 30,000 for mining operations in Kozhikode district.