Vinod Khobragade, the village official (talathi) of Baranj village in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra who imposed a fine of Rs. 32 crore on the Karnataka Emta Coal Mines Limited (KECML) for alleged illegal mining, was suspended on Monday.
He had also accused the top district officials, including the District Collector, of involvement in the scam.
“I have been suspended from service without even a show cause notice. They have suspended me for providing information to the media about the illegal mining scam in Chandrapur,” Mr. Khobragade told The Hindu over phone.
Meanwhile, the villagers have come out in support of Mr. Khobragade. “Whatever the talathi is doing is absolutely right,” Mira Parachake, the sarpanch of the Baranj village, said. “Due to this mining project, we are being forcibly rehabilitated,” she said.
“The mining area is coming very near to the village. The government should rehabilitate us before allowing mining in the region,” Sandip Randive, the Gramsevak of Baranj said. “You can see the mining area is coming near the school in the village. Due to these mining activities, if the school building suffers damage, then who will be responsible for it,” asks Mr. Randive.
But the KECML has refuted the allegations of illegal mining and forced rehabilitation. “All this is just to tarnish the image of the company on some baseless data. The allegations are baseless. Mr. Khobragade wanted to blackmail us and when he couldn’t, he started this entire campaign,” KECML vice-president Arun Hajare said. “We are working as per the rules. We have acquired the land as per the process, which includes Baranj village.”
Mr. Khobragade has denied the “blackmailing” allegations of KECML. “I have been campaigning against the illegal mining for more than a year now. I complained to the tehsildar and the District Collector but received no response. When I asked them about the fine that I had slammed on KECML under the Right to Information Act (RTI), I was told that such information could not be provided under the RTI,” said Mr. Khobragade.
The talathi also sought permission from the district administration to go to the High Court about the illegal mining but he has not yet been granted it.
“But now that they have suspended me, I am free to go to the High Court,” says Mr. Khobragade.
But some of the documents accessed by The Hindu show that the Baranj villagers did give their consent to a rehabilitation plan. The rehabilitation contract, dated April 3, 2012, has Ms. Parachake’s signature on it.
The Baranj gramsevak accepted that the villagers had signed the contract with the company.
“But the gram sabha voted against the contract in May this year, which makes the contract null and void,” Mr. Randive told The Hindu . “But the KECML refused to accept the gramsabha decision and continued with the mining,” he said.
One villager told this correspondent that even according to the contract, the company should employ 80 per cent of villagers in the mining work, but most of the workers are outsiders.
BJP MLA Devendra Fadnavis has declared his support to the villagers and Mr. Khobragade.
