Cong leader demands action against Mahajan

NAGPUR, Oct 26: Senior Congress leader and former Lok Sabha member from Nagpur, Banwarilal Purohit, urged Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajp...

NAGPUR, Oct 26: Senior Congress leader and former Lok Sabha member from Nagpur, Banwarilal Purohit, urged Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to initiate action against Pramod Mahajan for allegedly misleading the country on the allotment of coal block to Ispat group near a sensitive defence project at Bhadrawati in Chandrapur district.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Purohit claimed that the recent verdict of Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court upheld his contention that the Central as well as Maharashtra Government had endangered the safety and security of Ordnance Factory at Bhadrawati by leasing out the coal block to a private company for mining operations in the proximity of the defence project.

Purohit,who had filed a Public Interest Litigation PIL a couple of years ago, sought a Central Bureau of Investigation CBI probe into the matter and quashing of the mining lease.

He also pointed out in the petition that the safety and security of the defence project would be badly affectedif mining operation was granted in the area.

Purohit, who was a BJP Lok Sabha member at the time of filing the PIL, alleged that he was pressurised by BJP and the RSS leadership, particularly Mahajan, not to pursue the petition due to his friendship with Mittals.Mahajan had misled Vajpayee on the issue and ensured that he Purohit did not get a ticket to contest the LS elections in 1998. quot;I paid the price when I was denied a BJP ticket,quot; he said.

quot;Taking into consideration the interest of the people at large, I had filed the PIL against the allocation to and acquisition of about 9,500 acres of land at Bhadrawati on the ground that a lots of irregularities were intentionally indulged in to favour the Ispat group. Besides, the location of the captive coal mine for the proposed power plant in the vicinity of the Ordnance Factory at Bhadrawati would jeopardise national security because of the blasting operations,quot; he alleged.

The management of the Ordnance Factory had objected to the setting up of the coalmine at the particular location. The defence project there charges missiles for the Indian Army and the blasting operations for extraction of coal would send vibrations detrimental to various processes there. A high power technical committee was also appointed under the chairmanship of Dr Abdul Kalam to examine the bases for the apprehension voiced in the petition as well as by the Defence Ministry. The committee recommended that no permission for mining operations should be granted within a radius of 3 kms of the periphery of the Ordnance Factory, he stated.

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Purohit said that he was happy that he could make this contribution in the national interest. quot;Because of this PIL, the Ispat group was compelled to surrender this land along with coal reserves,quot; he further pointed out.The overall outcome of the PIL should act an eyeopener for those who take national interest casually. It is also a slap on the face of BJP leadership for abetting the wrongful allocation and location of coal mine to a private party atthe cost of genuine national interest, he added.