Mining scam rocks Goa politics

Panaji, Oct 7 (IANS) Politics over the illegal mining scam in Goa took a dramatic turn when in a late development Friday, Goa assembly Speaker Pratapsing Rane replaced Leader of Opposition Manohar Parrikar as chairman of the public accounts committee (PAC), which has pointed fingers the chief minister in the multi-crore rupee scandal.
Earlier, the BJP took on the government for not tabling the PAC report in the assembly and alleged that Chief Minister Digambar Kamat and an unnamed Congress leader in Delhi were amongst the main beneficiaries.
The speaker, in his order, has replaced Parrikar with BJP legislator from Canacona Vijay Pai Khot, who was recently linked with a move to join the ruling Congress party.
The order issued late Friday evening comes hours after Parrikar accused Rane of siding with the Congress and protecting 'a person' involved in Goa's multi-thousand crore rupee illegal mining scam, which was documented by the PAC.
Parrikar's outburst had followed the refusal of Rane to table the PAC report in the house Friday. The report questions the role of Chief Minister Digambar Kamat in sheltering the mining scam and blames the politician-bureaucrat-mining lobby for Goa's Rs.3,500 crore scam.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kirit Somaiya pegged the Goa mining scam at Rs.25,000 crore in two years and named several Congress leaders, including Kamat, who has been mines minister for over a decade, and a Congress leader in New Delhi, as beneficiaries.
'This is the biggest illegal mining scam in India at Rs.25,000 crore in just two years. Like the 2G scam, the scam money is being routed through companies set up in tax havens like Mauritius and Cayman islands,' added Somaiya, a former BJP MP.
A furious opposition had walked out of the house after the speaker refused to heed its demand of tabling the PAC report.
Parrikar said that it was not within the powers of the speaker to hold back a PAC report, which had been submitted by him Wednesday.
'You do not want to table the report. We are walking out because we do not want to be a part of any illegality,' Parrikar said.
He later accused the speaker of acting in league with the government and said nearly '75 percent of Congress legislators were involved in illegal mining'.
'The speaker is in league with the government. I have no hesitation in saying that he is trying to protect someone,' Parrikar told reporters.
Refusing to table the report, Rane said: 'It is my duty to scrutinise the report. If it is not proper, according to the rules, such reports cannot be laid. They should be programmed. I have to go through the report.'
Four legislators of the ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) alliance out of the seven-member PAC had not signed the report, Rane said.
The four had refused to sign the report Tuesday saying they needed time to study the document, which severely indicts the government.
The PAC report charges several state government agencies with turning a blind eye to illegal mining in Goa.
These include the department of mines, the pollution control board, the forest department and police, besides central government agencies like the ministry of environment and forests, the Indian Bureau of Mines and the director general of mines safety.
Addressing the assembly Wednesday after submitting the report, Parrikar had obliquely laid the mantle of the illegal mining scam on Kamat's head.
'Does the chief minister not want to change the situation in the mines department at all? Does he not want to punish anyone guilty? Any third person would take inference that he (Kamat) is involved,' Parrikar said.
'When he was the chief minister, exports rose from 16 million tonnes to 54 million tonnes... Production is thrice now. What is legally extracted is 30 million tonnes (of ore). It is perfectly legal, while 20 million tonnes is not legal,' Parrikar had said.

It seems the Congress has made it a habit, getting involved in scams, one after another.
It is not something new, it goes back right from our Independence. The only difference now is it is being hi-lighted and with Anna breathing down their necks they cannot just push it under the carpet.
I understand the government is planning to reopen income tax cases 16 years old.
I would suggest the government also open all the scams which were earlier white-washed, which are 16 years old and the money earned in these scams be confiscated like they are doing in Bihar.