Bhubaneswar, Sept. 30: The news of Justice M.B. Shah Commission’s visit to Odisha from October 3 has thrown the state bureaucracy into a tizzy.
The otherwise laidback babus of steel and mines and other concerned departments are busy dusting files to keep information handy for the commission, which was constituted by the Centre last year to probe into cases of illegal mining in different parts of the country, including Odisha.
A multi-crore mining scam broke in the state in July 2009 following which the Naveen Patnaik government ordered a vigilance inquiry, but the Opposition continues to demand a CBI probe.
The six-member team of the panel, which visited the state last year in December, is likely to be led this time by U.V. Singh, chief conservator of forests, Karnataka. Sources said the panel would visit, among other places, the Koira mining circle in Sundergarh.
Having been rapped by the commission during its last December visit, the bureaucracy is not taking any chances this time. Seniors officials of the concerned departments have held preparatory meeting with chief secretary Bijay Patnaik, who has asked them to get their paperwork ready. “We have asked the officials to provide relevant documents and extend all possible support to the commission,” said Patnaik.
The commission’s visit could not have come at a worse time for the state government, which faces the prospects of a CBI inquiry in connection with the allotment of coal blocks to some private companies. Ahead of the panel’s visit, the government scrapped the Odisha Mining Corporation’s coal deal with the Delhi-based Sainik Mining and Allied Service Limited. Steel and mines minister Rajani Kant Singh confirmed that the deal had been called off. “We have scrapped it,” he said. Sources said the government had taken the decision on September 27.
The state government’s decision to cancel the deal came six days after a PIL was filed in the Supreme Court alleging blatant violation of the Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act-1973 by the corporation, which allowed the Sainik Mining company to have controlling stake in a coal mine in the state.
Given this backdrop, the state government is understandably cagey about the visit of Justice Shah Commission, which, during its last visit to the state, had taken note of illegal mining activities in mineral-rich districts such as Keonjhar and Sundergarh and pointed accusing fingers at the bureaucrats saying that unauthorised extraction of ores would not have been possible without their connivance.
The panel also expressed concern over violation of mining plans in several areas, where iron ore had been excavated in excess of the approved plan. It has asked the government to curb such activities, so that the state’s mineral resource was not depleted before time.
During its December visit, the panel had visited mines in Keonjhar and Sundergarh districts besides taking a look at the exports being made from Paradip port. Ever since, however, the handling of ore at the port has suffered following the stoppage of operations in several mines.
Sources said this time, the commission had asked the state government to make available records of more than 140 cases of alleged violation of mining rules and the role played by officials of the steel and mines as well as the forest and environment departments.
