Opposition allegation on the mining scam purely political: Naveen

Bhubaneswar, Nov 05 : Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today described the Opposition BJP and some others' allegations that huge quantity of minerals were being illegally mined and smuggled out as purely political.

On his return from Delhi, Mr Patnaik told newspersons that the Vigilance department was looking into all aspects of the matter and taking necessary steps.

A six-member BJP Parliamentary team, led by Rajya Sabha member Balbir Punj, arrived here yesterday on a three-day visit to get the first hand information about the scam.

The team members said they would raise the issue in Parliament and demanded a CBI probe into the matter.

Commenting on the BJP Parliamentary team's statement to raise the multicore mining scam in Parliament, Mr Patnaik said for the past few months the BJP and some others had been making all ''false allegations'' about the mining scam.

On the growing naxal menace, the Chief Minister said the state government had been requesting the Union government to send seven more battalions of Central forces but in vain.

The state government on its part had taken a number of steps to counter the naxals by recruiting more people and imparting them training.

Mr Patnaik said strong action would be taken against criminals involved in the murder of a jail warden in Bhubaneswar. Police were on the job and the guilty would be found soon, he said.

On the farmers' suicide the Chief Minister said the state government was taking steps to bring more land under irrigation in rain-fed area in a bid to make farmers less dependant on rain.

--UNI

(c) 2009 Published with permission from United News of India.
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