Ranchi, Mar 22 (PTI) The Jharkhand assembly witnessed noisy scenes on Tuesday with the opposition members attacking the JMM-led government for allegedly not taking action against illegal mining, which resulted in a “huge loss to the state exchequer”.
Independent legislator Saryu Roy sought to know how many stone crushers were allowed to function in the state despite the cancellation of consent to operate (CTO) by the National Green Tribunal and losses on account of this to the state exchequer.
Roy claimed that the Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board had cancelled CTO of stone crushers on environmental grounds and violation of rules.
“Altogether 69 crusher plants were closed across Jharkhand. Later, 23 were permitted to resume operations. We would like to know the rules that the units violated earlier and also the rules that were adhered to by the 23 units,” Roy said.
Notably, five state legislators — AJSU party’s chief Sudesh Mahto and leader Lamodar Mahto, state NCP president Kamlesh Singh and independent MLAs Saryu Roy and Amit Yadav — floated the Jharkhand Loktantrik Morcha in Ranchi on March 11.
The JLM had said it would raise various issues in the assembly.
Roy had defeated former Chief Minister Raghubar Das in the 2019 assembly elections as an Independent candidate after he was denied a BJP ticket.
Roy demanded the formation of a committee of the legislative assembly to probe into the illegal mining issue.
Responding to it, Tribal Affairs and Transport Minister Champai Soren, who is also in charge of the mining department, said the government is looking into it.
After the minister’s comment, members of the main opposition BJP and AJSU started agitating and trooped into the Well of the House. Roy alleged that the minister was misleading the House and reiterated his demand for a probe by an assembly committee.
Amid the din, the speaker adjourned the House for some time.
Later, Roy again attacked the government saying that 231 mining leases are due to expire on March 31 and it could cause a loss of Rs 350 crore to the exchequer.
Agriculture Minister Badal Patralekh said the auction process of the 231 leases, which could not be completed earlier due to the Covid-19 pandemic, will be done by March 31, 2022.
As many as 45 tenders have been floated so far, while 150 are in the pipeline and the government is examining papers for the rest of the blocks.
NCP MLA Kamlesh Singh also raised the issue of loss of revenue due to illegal mining by stone crusher units and demanded immediate action.
BJP MLA Bhanu Pratap Shahi raised the issue of about two dozen villages being submerged due to erosion of several rivers. PTI NAM BDC BDC
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Source: The Print
