Orissa government rubbishes Congress charge on bauxite mining
Orissa Steel and Mines Minister Padmanabha Behera today dismissed charges that the state government had become embroiled in a Rs 50,000 crore scam by signing an agreement with Vedanta Aluminum Limited (VAL) to provide it 150 million tonnes of bauxite through captive mining.
“The allegation that the Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) agreed to hand over bauxite ore to VAL at a meagre price of Rs 64 a tonne against the market price of Rs 2,500 per tonne is completely false and baseless,” Behera told a press conference here.
He said the actual average price of bauxite for the month of January was only Rs 248 per tonne, according to the Indian Bureau of Mines.
“When the agreement with VAL was executed, the rate was only Rs 178 per tonne. Hence the allegation quoting a market price at Rs 2,500 per tonne of bauxite is entirely imaginary and false,” Behera said.
Stating that the former Congress government had initiated the mining deal with Vedanta, he said, “An MoU was signed between Sterlite Industries and OMC in April 1997.
“This was converted into an agreement with VAL in October 2004 during the tenure of present government.”
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