The issue was debated in the assembly through an adjournment motion where both the opposition parties held the state government responsible for "loot" of precious minerals from different mines.
"The amount of loot in the mining sector will cross over Rs 10 lakh crore," Congress Chief Whip Prasad Harichandan alleged.
Alleging "state sponsored" mineral loot in Odisha, Harichandan claimed the state-run Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) was part of the irregularity.
"The state government recently imposed penalty of over Rs 65,000 crore on different mining companies including OMC for excess production of mineral," Harichandan said.
OMC was found guilty in violation of MM(DR) Act and Environment Protection Act, he said.
"Of the more than Rs 65,000 crore penalty amount to be collected from different companies, OMC's share is Rs 35,000 crore," he claimed.
Alleging that the state government was involved in mineral loot through OMC, the Congress leader sought a reply from the minister as to when the state agency would pay the penalty.
"Let the OMC first pay the penalty before asking other private erring companies to make payment," he said.
While the amount of penalty due to violation of MM(DR) Act was above Rs 65,000 crore, the estimated amount of fine for deviation of Environment Protection Act was about Rs 75,000 crore, Harichandan claimed, "putting the total admitted scam amount to Rs 1.40 lakh crore." (More)
