Balco land files untraceable

The mystery over missing files has come as a breather for the Vedanta-controlled Bharat Aluminium Company Limited (Balco) that is under the scanner for allegedly encroaching upon a huge government land for its expansion projects.

The files related to the land allotted to the company (then a public sector undertaking) in 1967 have reportedly gone missing. This has put the state officials in a fix as to how much land Balco was allotted and how much it possessed on date.

The development has added significance as the London-based Vedanta, which bought 51 per cent stake in Balco and assumed the management control in the first disinvestment of PSUs in the country in 2001, is facing serious charges of allegedly grabbing 1036.52 acres of state land in its Korba facility.

The issue was raised in 2005 by none other than the then revenue minister of the state, Nankiram Kanwar. The minister alleged that the company had grabbed prime land and cut down a large number of trees without permission. The government conducted an inquiry that established that Balco had encroached 1036.52 acres of government land.

The company, however, contended and claimed that the land under question was allotted by the government. Following dispute, the company moved the court of law and obtained a stay on further action by the state. But the real problem for the state officials started when they went looking for the records to establish how much land the company was actually allotted and on what conditions.

"The related files did not come from Madhya Pradesh after the bifurcation of Chhattisgarh. Despite regular reminders, the state has not received the files yet," State Revenue Minister Brijmohan Agrawal said.

The government has asked the company to prove that it has not encroached any government land since it may have the record of how much land it has been allotted, the minister added.

According to highly placed sources, the files are untraced even in Bhopal. A team of revenue officials went to Bhopal to locate the files, but it failed to do so. "Even a letter from the then divisional commissioner of Bilaspur, related to the land allotment to Balco, is missing at the local level," said Korba Collector Ashok Agrawal.

Last month, the company again came under the scanner when a legislator charged it with encroaching government land for its new smelter plant. "The matter is under investigation," Korba Collector said.

Balco's CEO and whole-time director Pramod Suri, however, declined to comment on the issue.