UG Barad wrote: So far year 2010 has unearthed scams after scams: CWG; Adarsh; 2G; Land; and many more Response: 2G is a relatively small scam. Mining lease allocation/renewal without competitive bidding is much bigger: a loss of Rs 6 lac crore or more to the nation. Take our own Goa: Miners profit Rs 20000 crore annually and the leases are given almost free. If these licences were auctioned, the government could reap in at least Rs 1 lac crores in Goa alone. In this scam not only Congress but BJP is eqully involved. And our own Goa is the epicentre of the scam. If 2G licences are auctioned why not mining leases? Congress and BJP are both silent. Some day the Indian public will seek answers not only from PM and Sonia but also from Advani, Jetley and Sushma. 2G, CWG, Adarsh and Yeddy Land scams are of mere academic interest to Goans. On the other hand, the Mining Lease scam threatens siphoning away of Goa's Providend Fund (natural resources bestowed by Mother Earth for the benefit of generations to come). Manmohan is not acting because for the Central govt, mining profits (all india) of Rs 50000 crore is mere 5% of Central budget of Rs 10 lac crores. But for Goa, Mining profits (all Goa) of Rs 20000 crore are 300% of State budget of Rs 6000 crore. Three-fourths of the Mines in rest of India are leased to Govt/Public sector (where profits come back to the people) whereas in Goa all mines are leased to private parties. Goa has 0.1% of the nation's area but mines 25% of the nation's iron ore and exports 50% of the nation's iron ore. Also for the PM, who needs to think of 110 crore Indians, 15 lac Goans may not be a priority. It is therefore the prime responsibility of our CM to to appraise the importance of mining reserves for Goa's posteirity and stop the scam from continuing in Goa. He also cannot say that he was not aware of above peculier situation of Goa because he has also been the mines minister continuosly for 12 years (from the day BJP fished out a big Sardine from Mandovi) For the nation Mining Lease scam may be a bigger-than-2G scam but for Goa it is State-Providend-Fund enbezzlement scam. Rajendra
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