Odisha: INDIA bloc leaders take out torchlight vigil demanding rollback of MMDR Bill
Leaders of the INDIA bloc constituents took out a torchlight vigil and burnt effigies of Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and 20 BJP MPs from the state during a protest against the MMDR Bill.
Leaders of Congress, CPI(M), CPI, CPI(ML) Liberation, Forward Bloc, NCP and SP assembled at the Master Canteen Square here on Monday and protested against the BJP lawmakers from Odisha for "remaining silent" during the recent passage of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill or MMDR Bill in Parliament.
Odisha's Steel and Mines Minister B B Jena, however, defended the BJP governments at the Centre and the state and accused the INDIA bloc leaders and the opposition BJD of "misleading" the people of Odisha.
"The BJP, as a ruling party, never compromises with the interest of Odisha. In fact, the state has received huge amounts from the mining sector only because of reforms brought by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Both the Congress and the BJD are misleading the people instead of presenting the facts," the minister said.
The INDIA bloc leaders, on the other hand, said the Bill was "anti-Odisha" and "anti-tribal", and that it would snatch away the rights of the state over its mineral-bearing lands.
The people of Odisha will suffer the pollution from mining but the benefits will go to some corporate houses and the BJP leaders at the Centre, CPI(M) state secretary Suresh Panigrahy said.
The protesting leaders also came down heavily on Majhi for "remaining silent even as the state suffers and its rights are taken away".
Earlier, addressing a press conference, Congress leader Debashish Patnaik claimed that the state would lose over Rs 1 lakh crore after the implementation of the new mining laws.
"The state is not able to collect any arrears from the mining companies. If the outstanding mining tax is collected, the 4.5 crore Odias will get Rs 22,000 each," he said.
Meanwhile, at a separate press conference at Sankha Bhawan, the state headquarters of BJD, former minister and party leader Dibyashankar Mishra and senior general secretary Pranab Balabantray condemned the "anti-Odisha" actions of the "double-engine government".
"The BJP government at the Centre has snatched away Odisha's rights. The double-engine government continues to murder democracy by destabilising the federal system of governance and acting in a manner that is beneficial to mine owners and not the people," the BJD said in a statement.
