Trust babus to do anything you wish only if you are ready to grease their palms. Nothing else explains the manner in which mines department officials allotted mines of a deceased person to a private firm and allowed it to extract minerals worth millions for nine months.
The scam was spotted by mines minister Surendra Pal Singh TT who not only cancelled the allotment but also ordered an inquiry to fix responsibility to take action against officers hand in glove with the firm in swindling public resources.
There were five mines of china clay and red ochre in Chittorgarh and Bhilwara that were allotted to Sher Khan who was a key figure in multi crore mining scam exposed by anti corruption bureau in 2015. Sher Khan died in January 2016. As per rules, mines allotted to a person can be transferred only to his blood relatives.
However, an additional director in the mines department along with some other officials allotted these mines to Progressive and Popular Minerals Private Limited on the pretext that firm owners were relatives of Sher Khan who was originally allotment holder of these mines. This firm mined for nine months unabated making millions and goes without saying shared some profit with mines department officials who transferred these mines to its name illegally.
Sher Khan’s daughter Tanuja Khan filed a complaint. Inquiry by Managing director of RSMM found the complaint true and recommended cancellation of mines allotment to the company in addition to action against guilty officers. This report was pushed under the carpet.
But, when Surendra Pal Singh was given charge of the department, he sought files of every allotment or transfer worth Rs 50 lakh and more. While going through files, he came across this matter and asked for immediate cancellation of allotment of Sher Khan’s five mines to Progressive and Popular Minerals Private Limited besides initiated another inquiry to ascertain roles of officers involved in this scam.
The mines allotment was cancelled four months ago but till date neither money recovered from the guilty firm nor was action taken against the corrupt officers, which once again raises question on working of the mining department.
