ROURKELA: Former Union Minister of State for Coal and Rourkela BJP MLA Dilip Ray claimed that he was dragged into the 1999 coal scam by then UPA government due to political vendetta.
The CBI court framed charges against Ray in the coal scam pertaining to allotment of a coal block in Jharkhand to Castron Mining Ltd (CML) in 1999 when Ray was a Minister of State (independent charge) for coal in the NDA government.
In a statement on Wednesday, Ray said as a minister in the AB Vajpayee-led government in 1999, he received a representation from then BJP MP, PK Agrawal, for allocation of a coal block and he forwarded it to the department concerned for re-examination. He said the CBI has erroneously alleged that his endorsement of the representation for re-examination led to allotment of a coal block to CML, which was owned by the MP.
Ray said allotment of coal block is decided by a screening committee comprising members from different Union ministries including Coal, Steel, Finance, Power, Forest and Environment besides Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, Chairman of Coal India, Chief Secretary of the State concerned, Chairman of Central Mine Planning and Design Institute. The allocation was made by the screening committee of which, he was not a member, Ray claimed.
Ray said grant of the coal block was in fact recommended by the Jharkhand Government in favour of CML for legal utilisation as it was an abandoned coal block from which coal was regularly being looted by the coal mafia. “Long after I returned to Odisha politics, the UPA government, out of political vendetta, pressurised the CBI to dig out something to malign me and its predecessor NDA government headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee and an FIR was registered in September 2012,” said Ray.
He said a charge-sheet was filed against him and others in December 2014 and now charges have been framed against him. The Rourkela MLA said he has faith in the country’s legal system and urged for a speedy trial in the court.
Stating that he has undergone immense agony due to his name having been dragged “unnecessarily” into the controversy, Ray said, “My political rivals know fully well that my conduct is above board and I have nothing to hide.”