File photo of the Assembly during the ongoing winter session

Bhubaneswar, Dec 6: The case of a file, which is related to the multi-crore mining scam, going missing from the state secretariat caused an uproar in the Assembly today with the Opposition accusing the government of “hatching a conspiracy” to divert the attention of the House from Vedanta and Posco issues.

Quoting a news report which appeared in The Telegraph on Monday, BJP legislature party leader K.V. Singhdeo said: “It’s a conspiracy at the government level. The state government has lodged the complaint to hide the file and divert attention of the Assembly as well as the public.”

An upset Singhdeo wanted to know why the file was not seized by the vigilance wing, which had been probing the mining scam. He wondered as to how the file went missing when it was under the disposal of the steel and mines secretary.

“The government should not try to bail out itself by merely filing a police complaint for such a serious lapse. It seems the government does not want issues related to Vedanta and Posco to be discussed in the House,” he said.

Opposition chief whip Prasad Harichandan said: “The file, which contained important facts and evidences about manganese ore smuggling to the tune of Rs 55 crore, was deliberately hidden to conceal the corrupt deeds of the government. The truth will not come out as the file was now missing.”

Echoing him, Congress member S.S. Saluja said the state government was scared of being exposed. That’s why it had hidden the file to prove itself clean and transparent, he said. He asked why was steel and mines minister sitting quiet even after the file went missing.

Steel and mines minister Raghunath Mohanty, who was present in the House, however, did not respond.

As had appeared in these columns on Monday, the steel and mines department on Saturday lodged an FIR with the Capital police. In her complaint, under secretary, steel and mines department, D.S. Jena, said: “The file number 3/08 related to the Balasore vigilance case number 59/09 regarding the leasing of manganese mines at Rudukela in Keonjhar district in favour of S.N. Dasmohapatra is missing from the office.”

The file relates to the case in which the state vigilance department is inquiring into the scam. The Rs10,000-crore mining scam broke out last year after the Opposition raised a ruckus over illegal mining activities in Keonjhar district.

Official sources had earlier said that mine owner S.N. Dasmohapatra had caused loss of Rs 55 crore to the state exchequer by excavating 53,000 metric tonnes of manganese ore from outside his lease area and exporting the same without paying any royalty.

Vigilance has already lodged cases against Dasmohapatra under the Indian Penal Code and the Mining Mineral Development Act. The charge-sheet in the case was submitted in the Balasore vigilance court last week.

The House today witnessed heated exchanges between the Opposition and ruling BJD members over the issue for some time. Later, the Opposition stalled the proceedings of the House thrice by storming into the well and shouting slogans demanding chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s resignation over the Vedanta University land acquisition issue. The House was adjourned for the day in the afternoon.

During the noisy proceedings, Congress member Nihar Ranjan Mahananda was seen trying to snatch away the Speaker’s microphone and put placards on his table. The Congress members also made unsuccessful attempts to reach the Speaker’s podium. Finding it difficult to run the House, Speaker Pradip Amat adjourned the proceedings.