News Politics National Congress govt knew about mining scam, claims former minister

Congress govt knew about mining scam, claims former minister

Panaji: Former Goa minister Dayanand Narvekar has alleged that the then Congress-led government had knowledge about the illegal mining scam in the state, but preferred to keep mum on it.Narvekar, who was then finance minister,

The committee, which was headed by Narvekar, had then BJP legislators Mahadev Naik, Rajesh Patnekar and Dayanand Sopte as its members.

The committee had recommended to employ one person per mining lease to collect actual data on the extraction on day to day basis, Narvekar said.

It had also expressed the need to have a computerised counter check on the actual amount of iron ore extracted and reported, he said.

The illegal mining scam in Goa is much more than Karnataka and the state government, including the current BJP led regime, was busy protecting the interest of the mine owners, Narvekar further alleged.