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 in charge.
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. Dr. Singh said that the observations of the CAG, including criticism of the policy followed, transparency and objectivity of the screening committee and delay in competitive bidding and the presumptive loss of 1.86 are clearly disputable. He
said the policy followed had existed since 1993 and previous governments also allocated coal blocks in precisely that the CAG has now criticized.
He said the States of West Bengal, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Rajasthan had strongly opposed to 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 contenting 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.
Talking to reporters outside Parliament House after the opposition disrupted his speech in the Lok Sabha, Prime Minister once again appealed to the opposition to come back to the House to debate on these issues and let the country judge where the truth lies. Dr. Singh said that he wished to make a statement in the House on the issue but the opposition did not
give him the opportunity.
