Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh today termed the observations of the CAG report on coal block allocations including presumptive loss of 1.86 lakh crore rupees to private parties, as clearly disputable. In a statement made in Parliament, Dr. Singh said, any allegations of impropriety are baseless and unsupported by facts.

The Prime Minister also took full responsibility for the decisions of the Coal Ministry while he was incharge. He said, it was the UPA-1 government which for the first time conceived the idea of making allocation through competitive bidding in June, 2004. He said, the policy followed had existed since 1993 and previous governments also allocated coal blocks in precisely the same way that the CAG has now criticized.

He said, the States of West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Rajasthan had strongly opposed a switch over to competitive bidding. Dr. Singh said, the Ministry of Power also felt that auctioning of coal could lead to enhanced cost of producing energy.

Prime Minister said the CAG computations contending that benefits accrued to private companies, can be questioned on a number of technical points. Dr. Singh also said that private parties that were allocated captive coal blocks, could not achieve their production targets. He said the government had initiated action to cancel the allocations of allottees who did not take adequate follow up action to commence production.

Dr. Singh said that the CBI inquiry is separately investigating the allegations of mal-practices and action will be taken against wrongdoers, if any.

The Prime Minister has appealed to the opposition not to stall the proceedings in both the Houses of Parliament. Talking to reporters outside Parliament, Dr Manmohan Singh assured that the government has a very strong and credible case.