Goa BJP cites fodder scam to justify mining scam probe delay

Panaji May 26 (IANS) On the backfoot over delay in action against Goa s mine-owners accused of partly orchestrating a Rs 35 000-crore illegal mining scam state BJP President Vinay Tendulkar on Friday justified the delay using Laloo Prasad s fodder scam case as defence.

Asked to respond to allegations by the Congress that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was shielding errant mine-owners indicted by Justice M.B. Shah Commission Tendulkar said: You will know for how many years Laloo Prasad s case dragged. Whether it is fodder scam or other cases they are going on even now after so many years.

Earlier in the day Congress Secretary Girish Chodankar told a press conference that the BJP was shielding top mine owners accused of being part of the Rs 35 000-crore mining loot.

The BJP government is shielding the mine-owners involved in the scam. That is why the investigation is going nowhere Chodankar said.

The Shah Commission in its report tabled in Parliament a few years back had indicted Chief Minister Digambar Kamat top bureaucrats and nearly all major mining companies for committing excesses in the state s mining sector that led to a loss of Rs 35 000 crore to the exchequer.

While the subsequent BJP-led coalition government appointed a Special Investigation Team to probe the case the team appears to have made very little headway into the investigation.

--IANS
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