BHUBANESWAR: The BJP, on Tuesday, accused the State Government of trying to help mining lease holders by slashing the penalty imposed on them by the Supreme Court for excess mining.
“The apex court order on the mega mining scam has exposed the nexus between ruling BJD and mining companies. The Government is trying its best to provide relief to the defaulting miners who have looted the State. The BJP will take the issue to the people, if the Government reduced the penalty amount from `59,000 crore to ` 17,576 crore,” said a political resolution passed at the BJP’s State Executive Committee meeting here.
The mining scam is one of the 12 resolutions on which the party deliberated and approved at the second day of the two-day State Executive Committee meeting chaired by BJP’s State unit president Basant Panda. Leader of the BJP legislature party KV Singhdeo tabled the political resolutions for discussion.
It was Singhdeo who raised the mining scam issue in the Assembly first. While refuting the allegations, the State Government then claimed that this was an attempt by the Opposition to defame the ruling BJD, Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan told reporters after the meeting.
In a separate resolution, the party urged Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to reveal the sources of funding to the BJD account after it was revealed that many fictitious persons have deposited large sum of money in the party accounts.As the Centre has implemented recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission, the BJP urged the State Government to implement the same for its employees. The party thanked Pradhan for the amicable resolution of the dispute with State Government over tax incentives to Indian Oil Corporation’s Paradip Refinery. The meeting, inaugurated by Union Rural Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, was also addressed by Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar.