The minister, who in a suo moto eight-page statement dwelt at length on the process which had led to the selection of the consortium for working in the diamond mines in one block in Raipur district, said that this would be in addition to the normal one per cent royalty that would be received by the state government.

Singh said the other highlights of the proposal given to the state government by the consortium include payment of Rs 20 per carat for local area development fund.

His statement led to an uproar in the assembly as BJP members said the diamond mining issue figured in the party's chargesheet for the no-confidence motion against the Digvijay Singh government.

This led to noisy scenes in the house, forcing the speaker Sriniwas Twiarito adjourn the house for some time.

The minister said the consortium would form a joint venture company with the State Mining Corporation and added that in the new company, the state corporation would have an unsubscribed equity of 11 per cent which meant that it would get 11 per cent capital without making any investment.

The minister said the consortium would also set up units for cutting and polishing diamonds in the state. The consortium would transfer foreign technology in a phased manner to the state he said and added that the diamonds produced in the state would be sold through open auction within the country.

The minister said to assess the right price of diamonds, the state government would appoint diamond valuers at the national and international levels. Singh said the consortium would spend Rs 50 crore on its own in case it got the permission to undertake the survey of diamond mines.

He said the state government and its mining corporation would not spend any money on the survey, extractionand sale of diamonds.

The minister said to ensure that the survey of the block allotted to the consortium was done in the right manner, a project monitoring committee would be set up under the chairmanship of the chief secretary.