Now, BJP lands in coal mine scam

The gifting away of land belonging to Coal India Ltd by the Odisha government in 2004 is set to embarrass the Bharatiya Janata Party, now accused of favouring a company promoted by relatives of the late former Delhi chief minister Sahib Singh Verma. The BJP is already under pressure over party president Nitin Gadkari’s alleged lobbying for MP Ajay Sancheti’s firm for an irrigation contract in Maharashtra.

The land in question is a 22-acre expanse in the backward Jharsuguda district of Odisha, given to Global Coal and Mining Pvt Limited (GCMPL) by the state’s Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (IDCO) controlled by the BJP’s industries minister Biswabhusan Harichandan in the BJD-BJP government of the time. Not only was the land, owned by CIL subsidiary Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd, handed over to GCMPL, but a coal washery was also permitted on the land in 2006, in clear contravention of the rules. Despite a show cause notice issued by Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd, GCMPL has refused to vacate, taking the dispute into litigation that began in 2009 and is still continuing.

Activists allege that the deal was a political favour. “This land has more than 2 million tonnes of coal reserves and was given to GCMPL by Harichandan as a political gift,” said KC Das, an activist from the area who has been fighting about the issue for several years now.

While GCMPL is promoted by Captain Kuldeep Singh Solanki, its associate company ACB (India) Ltd is promoted by Haryana-based Rudra Sen Sindhu and Solanki. Rudra runs ACB (India) Ltd with his six brothers. The youngest brother, Dev Suman Sindhu, is married to Sahib Singh Verma’s daughter. After 2008, Rudra, Vritpal Sindhu and Vir Sen Sindhu (all brothers) also became nominee directors of the GCMPL. ACB (India) Ltd’s website says it holds 35.61 per cent equity interest in GCMPL.
The dispute dates back to May 2004, when IDCO filed an ‘alienation’ proposal for 21.17 acres with the Lakhanpur tehsildar’s office. Thereafter, in June 2004, the Jharsuguda collector leased the land to IDCO for establishment of industries. Within just five months, IDCO sub-leased the land to GCMPL for a 90-year period, on October 29, 2004.

The land is part of the Samleshwari Open Cast project of MCL. The PSU acquired the land in village Belpahar, Jharsuguda, under the Coal Bearing Areas (CBA)Act. “The Act clearly stipulates that land acquired under it cannot be transferred or sold. This transfer is illegal,” said Ramesh Tripathi, another local activist who wrote to the CVC in 2010. The matter is now being investigated.  “Under the CBA Act, the local state government is not empowered to grant lease of coal bearing areas for any purpose without express permission of the central government,” added Tripathi.

VK Sehgal, managing director of GCMPL, denied having received any political favour. “We have common promoters (Capt Solanki) with ACB (India) Ltd, but that doesn’t mean that we know Verma or Harichandan,” he said. Incidentally, Rudra’s brother, Abhimanyu Sindhu contested the Rohtak seat as a BJP candidate in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections.

Harichandan too denied the allegations. He said, “Though it has happened during my tenure, I have no role in this. Land which is acquired by IDCO doesn’t come to the minister for approvals.”
MCL, in 2006, sent a letter to IDCO for cancellation of the lease given to GCMPL, followed by a show cause notice to GCMPL in August 2009.