What is Siddaramaiah’s response to H.K. Patil’s letter? asks Bommai

Minister H.K. Patil has written a letter to his own Congress government in the State expressing concern over the delay in investigation of gross violation of mining rules. It is the responsibility of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to respond to it. How will he respond to it? It should be immediately made public, BJP MP Basavaraj Bommai said in Gadag on Sunday.

“Mr. Patil has expressed dissatisfaction with the government’s inaction on illegal mining cases. Aland MLA of the Congress B.R. Patil has spoken about corruption in the Housing Department. But the Congress government is yet to respond to him in a satisfactory manner. With such recent developments, it has become clear that there is no respect in the Congress for those who speak up against corruption,” Mr. Bommai told reporters.

“Mr. Patil has brought out a very important issue. He has said that over 90% of cases filed against mining irregularities have not been looked into or resolved. Mr. Patil is a senior Cabinet Member. If the government does not respond to that, then, imagine the plight of the common people?” he said.

The Congress government should fulfil the demands made by Mr. Patil that a special court be set up to deal with mining cases and a high-level investigation be instituted. I think Mr. Patil is referring to cases filed before 2017-18. Several cases have already been registered. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) has also been formed already. The CBI is investigating those cases. Meanwhile, some allegations have been made against the SIT chief,” Mr Bommai said.

Mr. Bommai said that the State government issued mining leases arbitrarily to some chosen companies, a day before the Union government enacted a law for compulsory e-auction of mines. “Will Mr. Patil also agree to investigate the granting of lease to companies without e-auction?” Mr. Bommai asked.