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The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has filed a petition before the Election Commission (EC) of India complaining that the state government led by Biju Janata Dal (BJD) violated model code of conduct by recommending an iron ore mine for Posco after the codes came into effect on March 5.
“I, on behalf of people of Odisha and BJP, want to inform you that on March 6, the department of steel and mines has sent its recommendation to the Central government for grant of prospecting license (PL) of iron ore mine over an area of 2,500 hectares in the district of Sundargarh in favour of Posco-India, violating the election code of conduct as the election was announcement on March 5,” said Surendra Lath, a BJP member of the state in his petition to the EC.
As per the model code of conduct, the state government or the Union government must inform the EC in advance ahead of taking any major decision.
The recommendation letter by the state steel and mines department shows that additional secretary, Sunderlal Seal sent the letter on March 6 to the Union mines ministry. Seal was not available for comment. Senior officials of the state mines directorate said, the processing of compliances on mining PL as sought by Union government was completed in the last week of February, but they could not comment about the date of the letter sent by the state mines department.
In January this year, the Union government had returned the proposal of the Odisha government for grant of PL to Posco, with some queries about the lease area. The state government, after excluding other areas overlapping with other leasehold areas of Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) and areas identified as tribal land, sent a separate map in its March 6 recommendation.
“It is pertinent here to mention that once the proposal was rejected by the Central government in January 2014, the ruling BJD compiled with all suggestions and granted the PL in favour of Posco-India,” the BJP member said.
