Krishna defends land de-reservation

Union Minister and former chief minister S M Krishna on Friday reiterated that the decision to de-reserve 11,620 sq km areas for mining by his government in 2003, was a policy decision and that there was nothing illegal about it.

When asked about the State government’s recent reply to the Central Empowered Committee of the Supreme Court, in which it was claimed that the de-reservation allowed public assets to be channelled to select private individuals/entities, he said:
“Hearing this question is like listening to the same old song. It was a decision taken by the cabinet and it was a policy decision.”

The Committee has sought the State government’s comments on a petition which calls for a CBI probe against three former chief ministers, including Krishna, for their alleged role in illegal mining.

In response, the ruling BJP, which had initially defended the de-reservations saying that it was taken as per the national mining policy, has now said that the decision was against public interest.
DH News Service