Mine mafia running government in Odisha: Rahul

March 31, 2014 17:11

Accusing the Biju Janata Dal government in Odisha of hijacking the credit for the work done through the welfare programmes of UPA government, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Monday claimed the state is ruled by "mine mafia" and not by the people's representatives.

"The state government is run by the mine mafia and not by leaders. Valuable minerals worth thousands of crore rupees are looted and state government is aware about it," Gandhi alleged at a public meeting at Semiliguda in the tribal-dominated Koraput district.

"Though the Centre sends thousands of crores for the welfare of tribals, the amount is not reaching the beneficiaries at the village level. The state government is diverting central funds and taking credit without any justification," he said.

While a handful of mafia loot mineral resources of Odisha and become rich, the poor and tribal people do not get any benefit, Gandhi said.

« Back to LIVE

TOP STORIES

All you need to know about VVPATs

To enhance transparency and verifiability in the poll process, the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 were amended in 2013 to introduce the use of VVPAT machines. They were first used in the by-election to the Noksen assembly seat in Nagaland.

Cong suspends Surat candidate Kumbhani for 6 years, suspects BJP ties

A statement from the Congress said the party's disciplinary committee decided to suspend Kumbhani after a thorough discussion, adding it had come to the conclusion that the nomination form was rejected due to gross negligence on his part...

Efforts to weaken India's progress must be stopped: Justice Datta on EVM row

Writing his views in a separate verdict while concurring with the opinion of Justice Sanjiv Khanna, who was heading the bench, Justice Datta said the question of reverting to "paper ballot system", on facts and in the circumstances, does...

Surya, Bumrah key to India's prospects in T20 World Cup: Yuvraj

Former India star Yuvraj Singh has identified the swashbuckling Suryakumar Yadav and pace ace Jasprit Bumrah as key to the team's prospects in the upcoming T20 World Cup owing to their ability to "change the complexion of a game" in a...

Maruti Suzuki Q4 net rises 48% to Rs 3,877.8 cr

The country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India on Friday reported a 47.8 per cent rise in net profit for the March quarter of FY24 to Rs 3,877.8 crore, on account of higher sales volume and favourable commodity prices.