By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubanewar, March 11, 2015 :

Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday defended himself on the issue of Talabira coal block allocation scam saying that the Court has not mentioned about him in its order.

The opposition Congress and BJP have upped their ante demanding for CBI interrogation of Patnaik for recommending the coal block allocation in favour of Hindalco following a summon issued to former prime minister Manmohan Singh in coal block scandal.

“You have seen the Court’s order. No where one can find our names”, Patnaik told reporters here.

The Talabira II coal mine was awarded to Aditya Birla Group owned Hindalco Industries in June 2005 jointly with Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd (NLC) and Coal India subsidiary, Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL) despite initial objections of Coal India Ltd (CIL) and then coal secretary, P C Parakh.Parekh’s objection was based on the premise that Hindalco was already allotted a coal mine named Talabira I in 1993 for its captive power use.

However, during a screening committee meeting to finalise the allocation, the Odisha government had supported allocation of the Talabira II mine in favour of Hindalco, saying it would mean large scale employment generation in the state as the company will use coal for its aluminium smelting unit.
The Oppostition now is raking up the issue questioning Patnaik’s role in the whole affair.

“The CBI is free to interrogate anybody. But it is unfortunate that the CBI is yet to call the Odisha chief minister for interrogation. As far as the former prime minister is concerned, he has already clarified that he had taken steps to allot the Talabira coal block to Hindalco based on the recommendation of the state chief minister,” said veteran Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in the state assembly, Narasingha Mishra.

State BJP president Kanak Vardhan Singhdeo, however, exuded confidence in the CBI saying, “I’m pretty sure that no one can go scotfree – whether it is the Prime Minister or the chief minister. The former Prime Minister has made it clear that the coal block was allocated to Hindalco on the basis of the Odisha CM’s recommendation. I am hopeful that the chief minister would be summoned by the court in due course. Just wait”.

The BJD was predictably on the defensive making a distinction between a ‘recommendation’ and a ‘decision’.

“Recommending a coal block and taking a final decision on its allocation are separate issues. The responsibility of allocation rests with the final decision making authority. The former prime minister was also the coal minister and it was during his tenure that the Talabira coal block was allocated to Hindalco,” BJD spokespersons Amar Prasad Satapathy said.