Former Chief Minister and Congress working committee member Ajit Jogi on Thursday alleged that the State BJP Government has been openly promoting corruption by reducing coal royalty and illegally allocating coal fields to BJP supporter industrialists and party leaders.
In a party Press statement issued here on Thursday, Jogi said that the Comptroller and Auditor General, in its report submitted in the State Assembly had revealed Rs1,844 crore financial irregularities in the State. The report had cited various irregularities in the allotment of coalmines. Even after the CAG revelation, coal blocs have been allocated illegally to BJP MP Ajay Sancheti, at the behest of former party chief, Nitin Gadkari, he added.
Jogi said that by reducing coal royalty, the State BJP Government had accrued a loss of Rs295 crore to the State exchequer and facilitated the BJP supporter industrialists earn huge profits.
Jogi said that the BJP Government has been fully supporting out of State industrialists and indirectly the party leaders are engaged in illegal mining of coal. State officials and BJP leaders were involved in the ‘loot’ of mining resources of the state, he added.
Jogi said that the Central Government had prepared a model mining policy in the year 2009, but Raman Government in the State was not following the policy. By following the model mining policy, corruption could have been curbed, but the State Government did not prepare any mining police, which he said was a conspiracy done knowingly by the Government.
Jogi said that it could be made clear with a CBI enquiry that the State BJP Government has been exploiting Chhattisgarh and making the State economically hollow. He said that as the Chief Minister himself is the chief of Energy department, he could not deny that he was involved in the illegal allocation of coal blocs to Adani group.
Jogi demanded that the illegal allocation of coal blocs to the Adani Group should probed by CBI immediately, so that fact about the indiscriminate mining of coal and the involvement of BJP leaders in it could be brought before the public.