Justice M.B. Shah Commission, which is probing into the mining irregularities across the country, on Friday ordered for constitution of a committee to solve the contentious mines lease area boundary issue in Orissa.
The proposed committee, to be formed by March 4, will have seven members comprising representatives from the state forest department, Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM), industry bodies and Shah Commission.
“We have asked for formation of a committee to decide the boundary issue. Apart from the Commission members, the body will have representatives from all stake holders,” Justice M.B. Shah, chairman of the Commission, said.
The proposed committee will visit the mines in different circles where mineral extraction has taken place allegedly beyond the lease areas and in forest lands. The decision to form the committee was taken after the lessees, through their advocates, challenged the state government’s decision to follow the Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) map to detect the alleged encroachment of forest areas.
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Scanner on hawala activities
Rajnish Sharma
New Delhi, March 1
Sources said the investigating agencies probing last month’s twin blasts in Hyderabad were closely monitoring the activities of some hawala dealers both in Mumbai and Delhi. Investigators claim that both Dubai and Saudi Arabia had emerged as the biggest centres from where hawala money was now being pumped into India for terror activities.
Meanwhile, the NIA has started questioning two key operatives of the Indian Mujahideen, Syed Maqbool and Imran Khan, who have been taken to Hyderabad from Delhi’s Tihar Jail. The two were arrested by the Delhi police’s special cell in connection with the 2012 Pune blasts.
During custodial interrogation both Syed Maqbool and Imran Khan had claimed that they had reconnoitred the Dilsukhnagar area in July 2012 on the directions of Karachi-based IM founder Riyaz Bhatkal.
The NIA, sources added, will take the duo for exact spot identification to all the places they had visited during their stay in Hyderabad.
Efforts are also being made to identify the place where they had stayed.
But investigating officials claim that both Maqbool and Imran might have been told to only gather information about vulnerable targets in Hyderabad and then pass on the information to Bhatkal for further planning.
“The way Bhatkal operates it seems highly unlikely that these two would be aware of the exact planning and who might have carried out the explosions. But they can provide some valuable leads,” a special cell official said.