Naveen Patnaik under pressure to come clean on mining scam issue

BHUBANESWAR: Faced with the prospect of Union government seeking CBI probe before the Orissa High Court in a public interest litigation case, the Naveen Patnaik government has started taking the multi-crore mining scam issue seriously by taking help of latest technology and punishing the culprits.

As the mine lease holders were accused of going beyond their stipulated lease area, the Orissa government has decided to adopt technology options for accurate mapping of its mines.

“The mapping will mainly be undertaken in Keonjhar district which large deposits of iron ore and manganese. Remote Sensing Technology is being considered as the best option for articulate mapping”, state industry minister Raghunath Mohanty on Wednesday informed in the Orissa Legislative Assembly.

Replying to a query in the state Assembly, Mr Mohanty said that it was agreed in a recently held high level meeting to engage the Orissa Remote Sensing Application Centre (ORSAC) and National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA) to prepare the maps.

“It was agreed in the meeting to entrust ORSAC and NRSA with the responsibility of mapping of mines. They will draw the maps in association with the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur and other concerned Central government agencies,” the minister said.

An Inter-Organisational Group (IOG) has been constituted to submit a report to the government on this subject.

“After the report of the IGO is made available to us, the government will think over the next step,” he added.

Steel and mines additional secretary, Orissa Mining Corporation deputy general manager (information technology), deputy director mines and representatives of ORSAC have been taken as members of the IOG.

During the ongoing Assembly session, the Naveen Patnaik government has been put to embarrassing situation by the Opposition over alleged exploitation of iron ore, manganese and other minerals by lease holders beyond the boundary of their demarcated area.

The Opposition even charged that the state government had received crore of rupees kickback to favour the mines owners.