Patnaik is not clean in Vedanta deal, alleges Jena

New Delhi, Aug 19 (UNI) Former Union Ministers Srikant Jena and Bhakta Charan Das today alleged that Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had taken a kickback from Industrialist Anil Agrawal for setting up the Rs 3000 crore Alumina plant at Lanjigarh in Orissa.

Releasing the letter to the Chief Minister in a press conference here, Mr Jena said, ''Once again you have exposed yourself by almost admitting to have entered into a murky deal with Vedanta, obviously for a huge kickback.'' Instead of selling bauxite at a low price of Rs 148 per tonne to the Vedanta Aluminium Limited(VAL), the state government should have floated a global tender, the letter said.

Both the Congress leaders alleged that Mr Patnaik had laid the foundation stone of the factory at Lanjigarh in backward district of Kalahandi in 2003, one year before the agreement was signed between the VAL and Orissa Government.

''Is it not a blatant favour shown to Anil Agrawal? Is it not a criminal offence on your part?'' said the letter questioning Mr Patnaik's integrity.

Mr Das, a former Lok Sabha Member from Kalahandi, said the VAL was asked to set up the plant without seeking mandatory environmental clearance from the Union Forest and Environment Ministry.

Quoting the reports of the Supreme Court Committee, Mr Das said, ''Without the mining lease, how was the factory set up and how would it operate without mining bauxite from the Niyamgiri and Karlapart mountains?'' The Green Kalahandi in collaboration with the Schumacher Centre for Development has organised a national seminar on ''Development and Displacement'' at the capital on Monday.

Many activists and displaced people from Lanjigarh would speak at the seminar narrating their experience and environmental effects of the factory in the region.

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