Dehradu: Uttarakhand unit Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Mahendra Bhatt on Sunday said that the hill state has witnessed a three-fold rise in the mining revenue under Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami-led government, as compared to previous regimes, and this was the result of ‘reforms’ initiated in the sector.
Addressing a press conference, in the backdrop of an ‘ugly altercation’ between BJP MP Trivendra Singh Rawat and a top bureaucrat of the Mining Department, Bhatt said that the three-fold jump in revenue was itself an indicator of plummeting mafia operations and the government’s growing supervision.
“Earnings from mining have gone up from Rs 300 crore to over Rs 1,000 crore. This shows Dhami government’s role in streamlining the sector and weeding out the corrupt and mafia syndicate,” he said.
The BJP leader also stated that till 2017, when the Congress was in power, the mining revenue stood at just Rs 335.27 crore.
The Uttarakhand BJP chief also took potshots at the Congress’ charges of government-mafia collusion in the mining sector and stated that the party itself was facing the heat because those being penalised were found to have close links with it.
He said that the Opposition, including Congress, were nervous because of the crackdown on the mining mafia in the state.
“Congress leaders are concerned over fines being imposed on the mining mafias. The penalty has increased 8 times in the past five years, from Rs 18.05 crore to Rs 74.22 crore. Most of this money has gone from pockets of mafias enjoying the support of Congress leaders, so it is natural for them to be pained and upset,” he stated.
Notably, the issue of illegal mining in Uttarakhand cropped up after BJP MP and former state CM Trivendra Singh Rawat raised the matter in Parliament and sought the state government’s intervention in containing the menace.
Rawat, speaking in Lok Sabha on Thursday, put his own party’s government in the dock as he raised the issue of illegal mining in the hill state and stated that this was posing much harm not just to the people but also to the ecology of the northern state.
He spoke about rampaging trucks loaded with illegal mining extracts and how this was damaging the roads and also putting lives at peril at night.
Rawat’s ‘disclosures’ not only gave the Opposition ammunition to slam the Dhami government but also prompted a quick rebuttal from the state’s Mining Department.
State Mining Department director Brijesh Kumar Sant, in a hurriedly released counter, said that mining revenue saw a record rise in the current financial year and hence the allegations stand as ‘baseless, false and misleading’.
(IANS)
