Faced with a barrage of criticism over the multi million crore mining scam, the Orissa government seems to have got its act together to crack down on miners allegedly involved in illegal mining activities.
After giving the green signal to the State Vigilance to prosecute seven officials of the state mines department for their involvement in the Ram Bahadur Thakur case, the state government has now trained its guns on two other miners for their alleged involvement in the scam- Arjun Ladha and B C Dev Mines.
“The hearing is underway for Arjun Ladha Mines while we are conducting field enquiry in case of B C Dev Mines. The Keonjhar district collector has submitted a report on B C Dev Mines but we have sought some additional information on the matter”, a highly placed official source told Business Standard.
Meanwhile, the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM), which is scrutinizing the cases of 87 miners who had raised ores beyond the approved 'Mining Plan', is expected to submit its report by the end of this month.
The state government had constituted a high-powered six-member committee chaired by the Director (Mines) to look into the cases of excess lifting of ores beyond the IBM approved 'Mining Plan'.
Now, IBM was to scrutinize the cases of these 87 mines and thereafter, the state government would decide on any action to be taken against the errant miners.
