The BJp leader lambasted the senior state Congress leaders for blaming the his government and said that all the sanctions and clearances for setting up the cement plant at Bagha Bagheri and captive Thermal plant by JAL were given by the previous Congress government between 2004 and 2007 while the reversal of decision not to allow the Thermal plant was taken by the UPA government.
"We stand by whatever has been said in the High Court judgement and will take appropriate action in respect of the irregularities pointed out in the judgement, including the action against the erring officials," he said.
The JAL was given permission to set up the cement plant on April 8, 2004 the MoU was signed on July 9,2004 and the proposal to set up the 25 MW captive Thermal plant was also given by the then government on September 16, 2004, when Congress was in power.
He alleged that the company lowered the cost of the cement plant to Rs 90 crore to skip Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) by Union ministry of Environment and Forests and the team sent by the Centre "completely" overlooked the irregularities being committed by the company.
During the public hearing, the local people "unanimously" opposed the plant but the MoEF team ignored the protests and even tore the attendance sheet, Dhumal alleged, adding that it was intriguing that the cost of project which was about Rs 500 crore was shown as less than Rs 100 crore.
The Single Window Clearance committee also conveniently overlooked the "vital fact" and let the "irregularities" go unchallenged, he said.
More From This Section
Contesting the claim of Union Minister V B Singh that his government had cancelled the thermal plant project and ordered action against the erring officials, Dhumal said that it was only an exercise on papers and the subsequent notings on the file make it clear that the government had no intentions to punish the guilty.
He said that the present government was totally opposed to setting up of coal based thermal plant and the decision of the HC, directing the JAL to demolish the plant, was a welcome step.