ROURKELA; In a move that has raised eyebrows, the state government-owned OMC Ltd has issued notice that it will hold national e-auction for selling minerals on May 20, the date on which Sundargarh is scheduled to go for elections.
This has come as a shocker for the residents of the district since the ECI has particularly stressed on enhancing voter turnout and the district administration, in particular, called upon employers to grant paid leaves to employees so that they can exercise their franchise.
On May 20, Kandhamal, Bargarh, Sundargarh, Balangir and Aska Lok Sabha constituencies and 35 Assembly constituencies under Sundargarh district will be going to the polls. The announcement by the OMC is, meanwhile, likely to affect polling in Sundargarh LS constituency and seven Assembly constituencies under it.
The notice issued on Monday informed that the national e-auction for sale of different grades of iron ores produced at mines across districts would be held at 11 am on May 20. Similarly, chrome ores produced in Sukinda valley of Jajpur and Bangur Chromite Mines in Keonjhar are scheduled for auction on the same date through national e-auction.
A central government enterprise, MSTD Ltd, has been conducting the national e-auction for OMC. Asked about clashing of the e-auction date with voting on May 20, MSTD regional manager TDMV Satyasai said the issue has come to his notice and the same has been conveyed to the client organisation OMC.
However ironically, OMC authorities do not see a problem with the auction date clashing with the elections. OMC general manager Bibek Nishant Nath said voters can go for voting after participating in the e-auction which will be held online. Asked about the possibility of postponing the e-auction, Nath said he cannot comment over it, adding for technical reason the OMC has to conduct the e-auction from May 15 to 20 and accordingly May 20 has been fixed.
Those familiar with the e-auction process of OMC said usually auctioning of prices continues for 8-10 hours and under no circumstances someone participating in the auction would be able to vote. Conservatively, above 500 in Odisha including about 200 businessmen or their representatives from Sundargarh district are likely to participate in the e-auction.
RCCI general secretary Pravat Tibrewal said it is unfortunate that the OMC being a government sector firm has no regard for the democratic process of voting. He hoped the OMC suitably changes the e-auction schedule.