Congress president Sonia Gandhi has asked for a detailed report on the alleged illegal iron ore mining scam in Goa that has the local Congress government on the backfoot.
With Assembly election in the state around six months away and the mining scam shaping up to be a major poll issue, Mrs Gandhi asked Goa Congress in-charge Jagmeet Singh Brar for a report. Mr Brar told newspersons that he would look into the political aspects of the issue as the legalities were being probed by the Justice Shah Commission.
By political aspects, he meant the role of chief minister Digambar Kamat who, as mines minister, has been accused of shielding the guilty parties who have been mining ore without valid licences and also illegally mining from non-designated areas.
The state BJP on Tuesday asked for Mr Kamat’s removal alleging that he had a huge role to play in the `10,000-crore scam.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Goa, headed by Leader of the Opposition Manohar Parrikar, has indicted Mr Kamat in its report.
However, in spite of multiple allegations and complaints, Mr Kamat has been insisting that he was actually a crusader against illegal mining in the state.
Meanwhile, former Karnataka Lokayukta Justice Santosh Hegde has asked the government to probe illegal export of iron ore from Karnataka through Goan ports. He added that illegal exports were evident from the fact that ore of 62-64 degree ferrous content was being exported from Goa ports.
“Goa does not have such high grade ore. So the question is from where the ore has come, and we say that it has come from Karnataka,” Justice Hegde said, adding, “The ore which was being brought under the pretext of consumption for local units, was being exported through the port illegally.” According to him, this could not have been possible without the involvement of local Goans.