Thaindian News

Raipur, Sep 8 (IANS) Chhattisgarh’s opposition Congress staged a walkout from the state assembly Thursday, accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government of overlooking alleged illegal construction activities being carried by the aluminium major BALCO in the state’s Korba town.

The walkout came as the opposition expressed displeasure over Labour Minister Chandrasekhar Sahu’s reply to its contention that the state government had not taken action against BALCO and its London-based owner despite dozens of people being killed in September 2009 when an under-construction chimney of its power plant collapsed.

“The government is either supportive or fearing to take action against BALCO otherwise it would have punished the company officials responsible for death of about 200 workers (official figure was 39),” Congress leader and former chief minister Ajit Jogi said during Question Hour.

“Now another complaint about a crack in a fresh under-construction chimney of BALCO’s upcoming power plant has been registered with the police by a labourer but the government is again overlooking it,” he said.

Sahu denied charges that the government was afraid to take action against any BALCO official. He added that the latest complaint by a labourer, Bachha Singh, regarding a crack in the under-construction chimney has been handed over to the police for investigation.

But the 39 Congress members in the 90-seat assembly then walked out from the house accusing the BJP government of being soft towards BALCO that has allegedly grabbed several acres of government land in and around its plant area in Korba, based some 240 km north of Raipur.

BALCO is controlled by Vedanta Resources Plc, while the Indian government holds a 49 percent stake in the company.