'Mining lobby will bring down govt'

Addressing reporters here on resolutions passed by the party at the three-day CPI National Council meeting that concluded here on Wednesday, the veteran leader said: “The government will collapse if it continues to yield to demands of the mining mafia. The lobby is a destabilising force. How can the government run like this. It would collapse,” he added.

Bardhan said, “The Indian Bureau of Mines and the government of Orissa, instead of taking stern action against fraudulent mine owners, mafia, corrupt officers and politicians, issued notices to close the mines, resulting in more than 10,000 workers losing their jobs.”