A mining lease in Chhattisgarh: State Cong calls it fraud,Vora the opposite

But Vora has taken just the opposite stand — in June,he wrote to Chief Minister Raman Singh to “prioritize the formal execution” of the mining lease to Pushp which,incidentally,has been on hold following the Congress campaign.

In September 2007,Deputy Leader of Opposition in Chhattisgarh Assembly Bhupesh Baghel sent a memo to the Governor asking him to request the CBI to register a case. “At a time when large number of genuine sponge and steel plants are craving for grant of iron ore reserves,a nondescript company with no economic legitimacy,no manufacturing experience,no past or present profile and whose promoters are mere traders engaged in trading of iron and steel in Delhi are granted a bonanza of 920 hectares of best quality iron-ore deposits in the state,” said Baghel. He alleged that this was done at the behest of the “Chief Minister and the supportive coterie of public servants.”

But Vora noted that the proposal to grant the lease had been approved by the Ministry of Mines in May 2006. This was done,Ministry officials said,at the behest of the state government.

“The execution of (the lease) will facilitate industrial growth and generate employment opportunities in Durg,Chhattisgarh,and also development of backward areas in Kanker. This will also add to the revenue of the government exchequer. I would request you to kindly look into this matter so as to prioritize the formal execution of mining lease,which was already recommended by the state government long back,” Vora wrote.

When contacted about Vora’s letter,Baijendra Kumar,Principal Secretary to Chhattisgarh CM,told The Indian Express: “The CMO has received the letter. It is true that the lease has not been executed yet but the process is on. Mining Department of the state government will take appropriate legal action.”

Vora told The Indian Express that he had written the letter to the CM on behalf of the company “on merit”. As for the Congress MLAs’ opposition,he said he had “no idea” of it.

Sanjay Jain,Director of Pushp Steel and Mining Private Ltd.,denied the MLAs’ allegations: “Ours is not a mining company but a steel manufacturing company. Mining experts will be doing mining for us. We will do value addition,which will bring revenue to the Government of India and the state government.”