Says govt support 28 firms, ignored 43
Raipur, September 03, 2012
Senior Congress legislator Mohammad Akbar on Monday said Sancheti brothers were never eligible for coal mining, although their company SMS Infrastructure Limited was picked for commercial mining of Bhatgaon-II and Bhatgaon-II Extension coal blocks despite lacking the requisite experience.
“The Sanchetis had zero experience of coal mining, however they got job for their closeness with BJP national president Nitin Gadkari,” said Akbar while he and PCC president Nandkumar Patel were talking to the media persons at Congress Bhawan.
“The Centre allocated the two coal blocks as well as Sondhiya coal block to CMDC which in turn invited bids to pick partners to form a joint venture (JV) company for exploration, development, mining and marketing of the coal blocks. To form JV company for Bhatgaon-II and Bhatgaon-II Extension coal blocks, the key technical requirement was minimum three years experience in underground coal/metal mining, but SMS Infrastructure informed that it had total experience of slightly over five and a half months. The projects done by the company are mechanised drivage of one incline shaft and one staple pit. The Sanchetis are not coal miners, but are actually civil contractors who do works like land development, etc,” said Akbar providing bunch of relevant documents.
Reiterating that Chief Minister Raman Singh’s claims of not supporting any company were completely false, Akbar said – “The Centre had asked the state government to send status report of those companies which were establishing their independent power project and captive power project in Chhattisgarh and had applied for coal blocks allocation. Surprisingly, the government supported only 28 firms and refused to support 43 others. Why this partiality? Let the government clarify,” he said.
He informed that Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), Suzuki Textile Limited, Gujarat Industries Power Company Limited, HEG Limited Consortium and AP Minerals Development Corporation Limited were the five among 43 companies which were denied support by the state government.
“We understand that the government did not support these five firms because they would use the coal in their industrial units outside Chhattisgarh. But what about other 38 firms which are establishing their units in the state,” he asked.
BJP govt misleading people: Patel
“Our allegations are based on concrete evidence while the ruling party is simply prevaricating and misleading people on coal blocks allocations,” said Patel.
“The Centre invites applications for coal blocks. The applications are filtered on recommendation of state government’s representative. Whether the company applying for coal block is having its industrial unit in the particular state or not is being confirmed through physical verification conducted by the state government. The physical verification of coal requirements of the selected company is also done by the state government. Hence, the Centre allocates coal blocks to only those companies which are supported and recommended by the state governments,” Patel said.
He demanded from Chief Minister Raman Singh to make public the recommendation letters and all other relevant documents sent by his government to the Centre for coal blocks allocation.
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