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Diamond prospecting licences kick up a row in MP

The Madhya Pradesh unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party today alleged that the Congress government's decision to grant diamond prospecting licences in the state is improper.

Former BJP minister Brijmohan Agrawal said a joint venture -- Vijay Kumar Chhattisgarh Exploration Corporation of B Vijay Kumar of Bombay and MP State Mining Corporation -- had been registered on October 26. Ten days later, on November 6, the JV applied to the Raipur district collector for a licence to prospect for diamonds. By November 13, the collector had already recommended that the licence be given to the JV.

Agrawal said the government had already issued the licence for Raipur. He also alleged similar haste in the award of contract to a cement company for the Balodabazar area.

But Collector M K Raut said the latest application has been forwarded to the state government just like the earlier five.

Agrawal charged that the government, in spite of knowing that Chhattisgarh is poised to become a separate state, was taking several policy decisions detrimental to the interests of the region and to deprive the region of the benefits of its abundant natural resources.

UNI

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