‘Govt has nothing to hide on JSW deal’

Industries Minister K J George on Thursday took on his Congress colleague H K Patil over the sale of 3,667 acres land to the Sajjan Jindal-promoted JSW Steel in Ballari.

Patil has shot off two letters to Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy, including one on Thursday, demanding annulment of the Cabinet decision to convert the lease of the land into sale. The JSW had been accused of “illegal mining” and the company had pending dues to the government, Patil has charged.

George asserted that JSW Steel had no pending dues. The JSW is currently fighting a legal battle with the Mysore Minerals Limited (MML) over royalty payments, he said. “Both parties have made claims, but there are no pending dues. Jindal has assets worth Rs 50,000 crore that can be attached if the court orders it to pay dues,” George told reporters.

The minister said he was ready to reach out to Patil on the issue.

“Nothing happened till 1995, when the Centre gave this land back to the state government with a rider that a steel plant had to be set up within six years. Thus, 3,000 acres were allotted to the Vijayanagar steel plant and in 1996, there was a tie-up with MML to supply raw materials,” he said.

“In 2005, when Dharam Singh was the chief minister, the Cabinet decided to give on lease-cum-sale arrangement 2,000.58 acres (to JSW). An order was issued when Kumaraswamy was chief minister and B S Yeddyurappa was industries minister. In 2007, another 1,666 acres were allotted,” George said. BJP has also objected to the Cabinet decision. Meanwhile, Kannada Development Authority chairperson SG Siddaramaiah said he received complaints that workers in the JSW plant were mostly from other states, while they were falsely shown as locals.