Alleged stealing from Odisha!! No wonder the whole industry has such a bad name.
Alleged rogues, MINES and MINERALS April 5th. 2010, 1:23pmFollowing is an excerpt from a report in Financial Express:
Prominent steel, sponge iron and mining companies are found to be allegedly involved in illegal removal and transporation of minerals in Orissa. Shockingly, these companies were using the railway rakes for shifting of the booty from Orissa to neighbouring states and to ports at Paradip, Visakhapatnam and Haldia for exports.
Orissa police have booked 48 companies and individuals for illegal procurement and transporation of minerals worth about Rs 54.50 crore by using railway rakes.
The companies and individuals allegedly involved in the illegal activities include Essel Minings, Rungta Mines, Visa Steel, Adhunik Metaliks, Jai Balaji Industries Ltd, MSP Metaliks, Kesav Minerals, Triveni Earth Movers, Ankit Metaliks, SPS Steel & Power, Sameleswar Ferro Metaliks, MAP Mines & Minerals, Jharkhand Ispat, Rashmi Metalicks, Abhijit Choudhry, KJS Alhuwalia, Indrani Patnaik and Sarat Kumar Kodia. …
This is outrageous. If the allegations are correct, these companies should be handed down the severest punishment allowable by law. I am also shocked that Essel Minings, an Aditya Birla company is in the above list.
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April 6th, 2010 at 2:52 am
The looting of minerals is not new in Odisha, this has been going on from ages but what is surprsing is all this happens in broad daylight and nobody ever complained which suggest that senior official and politician were involved.
April 7th, 2010 at 10:20 am
Forty eight (48) companies looting minerals Rs 54.50 crore!Common I think the figure should be multiplied by 10 or a 100. It seems like a ploy by the corrupt police/govt officers to book companies and then blackmail them to pay up to clean their names. If 48 companies have been booked then I am sure there is only a handful of companies who are clean. What was the administration doing by giving licenses to 48 companies? Is there so much iron ore that anybody and everybody is given a license to dig up the state. MoUs are being signed left and right but what does the state have to show in all these years? It’s time to get some perspective. We proudly pat ourselves on the back whenever any industrialist announces a multi-billion dollar investment in Orissa. In the mid-nineties (not too long back for anybody’s memorry) Orissa signed MoUs just as it is now but nothing came of it. Do we want history to repeat itself? Do we want Orissa (like some African countries) to be forever living with the curse of abundant mineral wealth but abject poverty.
April 9th, 2010 at 9:45 am
Please note the information below is given without malice or malafide intention. I do not want to make any value judgements on any of the information supplied below. The only thing I perhaps would like to highlight is the collusion of politicians-bureaucrats-well connected individuals-media (sadly) in depleting Odisha of its minerals without creating job generating industries.
Some more details on the individuals in the accused list:
Indrani Patnaik is the the third highest taxpayer in India for 2009-10. She paid Rs 70 crore this year (09-10) and Rs 40 crore (08-09) (Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5771888.cms). Other details that might interest readers:
(editor: Rest is deleted. As I know some of it to be not true and for some others there was no proof. Among the untrue part is the connection to Swosti hotel. I know who the owners of Swosti hotel are. Years ago I lived next to their house. Hence I can not trust the rest of the links that were written. Some of it may have been true. )
April 9th, 2010 at 2:20 pm
Indrani Patnaik
I think she is the wife of Dipti Ranjan Patnaik, who has a huge business empire called Falcon Industries and also runs the infamous Padmanava College of Engineering at Rourkela under Padmanava Education Trust.
(Editor: Rest deleted as there is no proof to back them up.)
Hence Rourkela needs a quality engineering college ( This is off topic but everyone should know the plight of the students of PCE)
April 9th, 2010 at 8:28 pm
Apologies for the reference on Swosti hotel. Poor research on my part. Having said that I stand by what I said earlier.The rest of the information that I gave remains as valid and sourced from reliable information in the public domain (government of India websites, national newspapers and websites of educational institutions.)
Indrani Patnaik is the wife of Niranjan Patnaik’s elder brother Dipti Ranjan Patnaik.
Source: http://cbi.nic.in/newsarticles/pressclips/dec_2009/pm_20091205.pdf (pg. 11)
Niranjan Patnaik is the brother of Dipti Ranjan Patnaik as both have the same father (Late Braja Bandhu Patnaik).
Source: http://ws.ori.nic.in/ola/mlaprofile/1stpage.asp?376
Source: http://pcerkl.ac.in/governance_trust.asp (bottom of page)
Soumya Ranjan Patnaik is the brother of Niranjan Patnaik and Dipti Ranjan Patnaik by virtue of having the same father.(Late Braja Bandhu Patnaik).
Source: http://www.parliamentofindia.nic.in/ls/lok11/biodata/11or05.htm
Soumya Ranjan Patnaik is the son-in-law of former Chief Minister JB Patnaik.
Source: http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2111/stories/20040604007213100.htm.
April 9th, 2010 at 8:43 pm
Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, son-in-law of JB Patnaik, is the editor of Sambad. He is also the chairman/owner of KMBB College of Engineering and Technology. As I have shown above Soumya Ranjan Patnaik/Niranjan Patnaik/Dipti Ranjan Patnaik are brothers ( nice common string ‘Ranjan’). An additional proof is ‘BB’ in KMBB College of Engineering and Technology which likely stands for Braja Bandhu (their late father).
Source: http://kmbb.in/file0002.html?Chairman's%20Profile=true
Dipti Ranjan Patnaik is a trustee of Padmanava College of Engineering that was founded by Tara Ranjan Patnaik.
Source: http://pcerkl.ac.in/governance_trust.asp
Tara Ranjan Patnaik is also the founder of Falcon Marine Exports and Falcon Real Estate.
Source: http://www.falconmarine.com/history.htm
Tara Ranjan Patnaik has a family link to a high profile Congress leader.
Source: http://www.pragativadi.com/030410/enlsh%20powerlist.htm (in the profile on Tara Ranjan Patnaik)
April 9th, 2010 at 8:49 pm
Tara Ranjan Patnaik and Jitu Patnaik are promoters of Patnaik Steels and Alloys Pvt. Ltd.
Source: http://www.patnaiksteel.com/pramotars.asp
Jitu Patnaik was the richest Odiya candidate in the 2009 election. He even had filmstars Raveena Tandon and Suniel Shetty campaign for him in Joda, claiming they are his friends! Currently he is an independent MLA in the Odisha government.
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Millionaires-who-want-to-be-MLAs/articleshow/4431794.cms
Source: http://www.hindustantimes.com/special-news-report/Special/Raveena-Tandon-amp-Sunil-Sethy-in-Orissa-campaign-trail/Article3-401817.aspx
Source: http://ws.ori.nic.in/ola/mlaprofile/1stpage.asp?1292
Source: http://www.financialexpress.com/news/controversy-over-iron-ore-mining-leases-in-orissa/194942/
And yes finally my comment on the MoU signing spree and the total lack of commitment to follow them up/or the case of history repeating itself is strengthened with this ancient post in Rediff. If one reads the post one will realize that MoUs mean nothing without a concrete start (pun intended). A certain Niranjan Patnaik was the industry minister then!
Source:
http://www.rediff.com/money/jul/05orissa.htm
Disclaimer: As usual Orissalinks is in no way responsible for the contents of the comments published in this section.
April 10th, 2010 at 4:52 pm
Since we are it. Some more information (sourced from government websites, company websites, reputed national magazines)…
Thriveni Earth Movers, a company mentioned in the Financial Express report, is also linked to Indrani Patnaik. As per the organization chart on the company’s website Indrani Patnaik is designated as the project head.
Source: http://www.thriveni.com/about.html (Look at Organization Chart)
The company’s MD, Mr. B. Prabhakaran, contributed handsomely (25 Lakhs) to the flood relief efforts in Orissa (Item No. 322) in 2008 as did others in the list Rungta Mines ( Rs 1 Crore ) and Essel Mining ( 4 crore ). Most mining companies contributed well. Obviously the government knew more than it claims. It is sad to look at a gift horse in the mouth but sometimes it reveals information that is hidden.
Source: http://www.orissa.gov.in/portal/flood/List_of_Donors.pdf