Click to play videoBhubaneshwar: A major mining scam has come to light in Orissa in which highly placed railway officials are allegedly involved.
The Orissa government is yet to yield to the Opposition demand for a CBI enquiry in to the alleged Rs 3 lakh crore mining scam.
The scam reportedly came to light when railway rakes were stopped at Keonjhar in Orissa on their way to Vishakapatnam.
The rakes were transporting iron ore worth crores of rupees without any ownership or transport documents.
It led to more seizures of illegal iron ore - one and half lakh tonnes in all from different railway sidings in the district.
The seizure has led the police to suspect that highly placed railway officials are also involved in the multi-crore iron ore scam.
"The iron ores are illegally mined from non leased mines and forest land by mafias. On three railway sidings in the district the seizure of minerals have been made," says Keonjhar SP Ashish Kumar Singh.
Police say that the illegally mined ore is transported to Jharkhand with the help of railway officials.
From Jharkhand the ore is transported to ports like Paradip, Haldia and Vishakapatnam where forged documents are provided and the ore is shipped abroad.
Over the past two months police have arrested 90 people including mining don Jitendra Jha.
But so far no railway official has been arrested.
"Such a big scam which has been going on in this mineral belt for years cannot happen without the involvement of top railway officials along with the state government officials," says BJP legislative party leader KV Singhdeo.
The Orissa government has now approached Jharkhand for a joint committee to check the illegal transportation of ores.
Orissa also set up an enquiry committee with officials from the railways and state departments, but the results have not been encouraging.
"The railway authorities are not cooperating in our investigation," says Orissa Steel and Mines Minister Raghunath Mohanty.
The Opposition parties allege that this is the biggest scam ever in the state in which top politicians, bureaucrats, businessmen, mining mafias including several railway authorities are involved.
But unfortunately so far no action has been taken against any big fish involved in the scam.
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