Chhattisgarh’s precious diamond mines in Deobhog area is heading for a new fight, literally, now in the court of law.
The state government has decided to challenge the verdict of Mines Tribunal that facilitated mining firm B Vijaykumar Chhattisgarh Exploration Limited to restore survey and prospecting work in Deobhog diamond mines. The deal was scrapped by the then Ajit Jogi government in 2001.
The B Vijaykumar company in which film financer Bharat Shah is one of the directors had backed the contract in December 1999 for prospecting in a 4600 square kilometers block in Deobhog. The work was to be completed in three years.
The then Congress government in December 2001 cancelled the contract and confiscated the company's security deposit of Rs 23 lakh for alleged "violation of stipulated conditions".
The government said the company failed to handover the diamonds unearthed in test drillings to it apart from not depositing the requisite fees of Rs 5 per sq km for prospecting for 3,600 of the 4,600 sq kms area.
The company also allegedly failed to submit progress reports to the government on a quarterly basis.
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The B Vijaykumar company challenged the order of the Chhattisgarh government in the mines tribunal. After nearly a decade, the tribunal ordered in favour of the company and asked the state government to give contract to B Vijaykumar Chhattisgarh Exploration Limited.
“The state government has decided to move to the Chhattisgarh High Court to challenge the tribunal’s verdict,” a top official in the mining department told Business Standard. A deputy director-ranked officer of the department had been made the nodul officer to initiate the action, he added.
If the court’s decision delays, the precious diamond mines of Chhattisgarh will now again remain unused.
The mines, capable of generating crores of rupees per annum for the government, have been put in the show-case for year.
It was in 1984 that the Geological Survey of India (GSI) struck upon a subterranean treasure trove of diamonds in the thickly forested area of Deobhog on the border between Chhattisgarh and Orissa. After nearly 18 years, the work on the mines could get start.