Bhubaneswar: Former Minister and senior leader Damodar Rout dropped a bombshell by accusing Odisha government of showing undue favours to Vedanta. He alleged that bauxite is being provided to the company at much lower price than the actual rate fixed by the Centre.
Odisha government has allowed the owner of Vedanta, Anil Agarwal to plunder natural resources by taking bribe from his company, Rout alleged.
Though such irregularities and illegal mining calls for a probe by CBI, it will not yield any result as there seems to be an unholy nexus between Odisha CM and the central investigating agency.
“Illegal bauxite mining is rampant during night hours and several tonnes of mineral resources are being looted. Despite provision of online transit pass, handwritten passes are being issued for transportation of minerals. All such activities are carried out by one mining officer, Manoj Guanwara Sethi who has been specially instructed in this regard by the government,” Rout alleged.
Terming Dama Rout’s allegations ‘baseless’, senior BJD leader Pratap Deb stated that it is a tactics of former only to hog limelight.
“Everything is being done in a transparent manner and details are available online and can be accessed through RTI. After the Shah Commission’s report, there is no scope for any hidden deals,” Deb added.