Chhattisgarh agriculture and labour Minister Chandrashekhar Sahu said that union State Minister for agriculture and State Congress president Dr Charandas Mahant has made baseless allegations against Chief Minister Dr Raman Singh and the State Government in the issue of allotment of land to Bharat Aluminium Company (Balco).
During informal discussion with some journalists here on Sunday, Sahu said that Mahant was totally wrong in saying that in order to get benefit in the election, the State Government in its cabinet held here this month had decided to give four acre land to Balco.
He said it was a matter of surprise that being a central Minister Mahant was unaware of the fact that his Government at the centre had given clear approval to the State Government for the allotment of land to Balco. Only on the basis of the approval of the central Government the State Government has decided to give land to the company, he added.
The Centre, it its letter written to the State Government had mentioned that the land should be allot to Balco immediately. Besides, the Balco Trade Union had also demanded allotment of the land to the company, the Minister said.
Sahu said that the State Government, following all the legal procedures and rules and regulations, has taken the decision to allot the land to the company in public, State and nation’s interest. Therefore, there was no question of putting rules and regulations at stake, he added.
Sahu said that if Mahant has any objection in the approval given by the central Government, he should have registered his objection with the central Government. The State Government had taken this decision for allotment of the land with total impartiality and transparency, the Minister added.
He said that in this land allotment no politics was played on the part of the State Government. Now, the Congress should not play any politics in this land allotment issue, as the court had rejected a petition filed in this regard and had considered the decision taken by the State Government legal, he added.
Sahu termed the statement of Mahant that the cabinet held under the leadership of CM Raman Singh had passed all other agendas without any discussion, as totally wrong. In fact, he said, it was the longest cabinet meeting ever held under CM and each agenda was discussed in detail in this meeting, which took about four hours.
Mahant, in a press statement issued here on Saturday, had accused the State Government of illegal allotment land to Balco.