Digvijay Singh alleges under-pricing of iron ore in Goa e-auction

PANAJI: Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh today alleged under-pricing of iron ore by companies during the e-auctioning held recently under the watch of a monitoring committee appointed by the Supreme Court.

"The bidding price of the ore was Rs 1,700 per ton whereas the market price is USD 80 (approximately Rs 5,000) per ton," Singh said here.

He said the Supreme court-appointed committee should do some "introspection" and find out the reason why ore price was quoted so low.

"The competitive bidding should be followed so that the state and lease holders don't lose the money," the Congress leader said.

The state government had collected Rs 94 crore from the online auctioning of about half-a-million tonne of the stacked ore lying at jetties.

The e-auctioning process was conducted through the PSU Metal Scrap Trade Corporation.

After the initial success, a total of 15 million tonne of the ore identified by the state government would be e-auctioned.