Unlike other political parties, the CPI-M which had seat adjustments with the ruling BJD in last elections, has not sought a CBI probe into the multi-crore mines scam in Orissa.
Unlike other political parties, the CPI-M which had seat adjustments with the ruling BJD in last elections, has not sought a CBI probe into the multi-crore mines scam in Orissa but demanded that the ongoing vigilance inquiry into the scandal be done in proper way.
Blaming the erstwhile Congress government and the decade-old Naveen Patnaik regime in the state for the looting of precious minerals from Orissa for years, CPI(M) leaders at a workshop were apprehensive that the state would be bereft of any mineral resources in the next 30 years.
"It is high time that we rise to the call of the hour and protect and preserve our rich mineral resources," said the CPI-M state secretary Janardan Pati on the concluding day of its three-day workshop here yesterday. Pati alleged that the present government in the state is mindlessly giving away mining leases to multi-national companies at throw-away prices.
He was also critical of the ongoing mining scam probe by the state vigilance department saying the anti-corruption wing of the police was not doing its work properly. It was for the soft attitude of the vigilance that the erstwhile mines director of the state escaped from an imminent arrest, Pati asserted.
Many political leaders and senior bureaucrats of the state are hand-in-glove with looters and the vigilance sleuths, who work under Home department headed by the chief minister himself, cannot lay their hands on the major players of the scam, Pati alleged.
CPI(M) also expressed concern over the unprecedented price hike of essential items in the state and called upon the people to fight against the menace tooth and nail. The party feels that the policy of forward trading encouraged in the name of liberalization is the main reason for the recent skyrocketing of prices.
Senior leaders of the party said agriculture in Orissa is in doldrums leading to reports of farmers committing suicide across the state. Cut in farm subsidy and lack of adequate budgetary allocation for agriculture has contributed immensely for the present precarious situation, they claimed.
The party called upon its cadre to get ready for a state-wide mass agitation soon protesting against price hike, mining scam, naxal menace and the state government's slipshod attitude towards agriculture.
State CPM patriarch Shivaji Patnaik presided over the concluding session.
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