SC seized of mining activity in M.P.

By Our Staff Correspondent

BHOPAL, DEC. 9. The just concluded session of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly was rocked by a furore over illegal mining in Shivpuri district of Madhya Pradesh. What was been particularly embarrassing for the State Government in this context is the allegation that a State Minister is directly involved in the scam, presently being probed by a House Committee.

The high profile Bharatiya Janata Party legislator from Shivpuri, Ms. Yashodhararaje Scindia, had initially brought the mining scam into sharp focus by raising some pointed queries in the Assembly. It received a thrust in the Assembly through the intervention of another BJP MLA, Mr. Narendra Birthare. Both these MLAs have levelled serious charges against the Minister for Village Industries and Animal Husbandry, Mr. K.P. Singh, accusing him of direct involvement in the multi-crore mining scam. Ms. Yashodhraraje Scindia even brought this issue into public glare by leading a one-day sit-in protest in Bhopal and by courting arrest along with many senior BJP leaders.

After this issue was raised in the Assembly, a House committee was formed to probe the issue. However, the first crucial meeting of this committee, which was supposed to be held at the fag end of the Assembly session, was a non-starter since two of its three members, belonging to the Congress(I), did not turn up. Since Ms. Scindia was the only member present to attend this meeting, which has now been postponed, the concerned officials could not be grilled on this serious matter.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that the Supreme Court being seized of the matter through a public interest litigation has sought an affidavit from the State Government regarding the present status of mining activity in Shivpuri district. Inquiries have revealed that all illegal mining activity in the protected and reserved forest areas of Shivpuri has now been stopped by the forest authorities and the State Government is taking a categorical stand that there is no illegal mining activity going on in Shivpuri.

The BJP legislators from Shivpuri have responded to this by saying that illegal mining activity has been stopped by the authorities only after the matter had come up in Assembly and before the apex court.

It is also their contention that all those linked with the mining mafia should be booked and punitive legal action taken against them.

The writ petition recently filed in this connection in the Supreme Court which is also linked with the famous T.N. Godaverman case says that large-scale illegal mining of good quality stones is continuing in the reserve and protected forest areas of Shivpuri district of Madhya Pradesh in gross violation of the Forest Conservation Act resulting in environmental degradation and depletion of the precious forest cover.

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