Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram has urged Union Mines Minister Narendra Singh Tomar to probe allegations of illegal iron ore mining in Odisha's Sundergarh district.
"You are requested... To find out the legality of the transaction before it is suppressed by interested mining mafias operating in the area in collusion with the state mining officials as reported in the Justice M B Shah enquiry report earlier," Oram wrote to Tomar in a letter, a copy of which was released to press today.
Oram, who represents Sundergarh in the Lok Sabha, in his letter pointed out that local villagers on October 5 detected stacking of huge quantity of iron ore at Rengra Railway siding site and informed the matter to the local deputy director, Mining (DDM).
"He (DDM) sent a team who dug and detected huge quantity of lump, sized iron ore and fines worth around Rs 100 to Rs 120 crore in the market as on date," Oram said in the letter adding the quantity of iron ore could be 30,000 to 40,000 MT as per local eyewitnesses.
Asked about the illegal stacking of iron ore, Sundergarh District Collector Bhupinder Singh Poonia said "Action will certainly be taken against the persons involved in the incident if any illegality is found."
The matter came to light after some villagers and labourers informed the local BJP unit about stacking of huge quantity of iron ore at the railway siding.
