Union Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal has rejected the Comptroller and Auditor-General’s conclusion that coal blocks allocation helped private companies gain Rs. 1.86 lakh crore.
Talking to journalists after the report was tabled in Parliament on Friday, he said: “The policy adopted to allocate coal blocks was not faulty. There could not be a more transparent policy for allocation of coal blocks [since 2004 when there was no competitive bidding].”
The CAG has come down heavily on the government for its failure to initiate competitive bidding for coal blocks.
But Mr. Jaiswal said the CAG assessment was based only on a few aspects of coal allocation. “We are not in agreement with the CAG calculation in its entirety.”
He said private parties were involved in development of coal blocks as the state-run Coal India was not able to meet the growing fuel requirements. “Out of the 57 blocks allocated to the private parties, only one is operational. The blocks allocated to the Tatas and Jindal Steel and Power for their coal-to-liquid projects were aimed at reducing crude imports.”
No illegality: Moily
In his reaction, Power Minister Veerappa Moily said coal mines allocation to Reliance Power for its Madhya Pradesh project was transparent.
“There is no illegality in coal blocks allocation. It is an open book. It is transparent. I am not part of any value judgement at this stage. Ultimately, it is a report given by the CAG. It is not a final finding. It will go before the Public Accounts Committee. It will go before Parliament,” he told journalists here.
Mr. Moily said the Power Ministry had given the CAG all information. “The CAG was informed of the Attorney-General’s decision, not that anything was withheld, and all relevant papers were placed before the CAG, and they should have considered it. They have not referred to the Attorney-General’s opinion. The CAG has not taken cognisance of all these relevant facts in its final report.”
Keywords: Coal block allocation, CAG report, Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal, coalgate, coal scam, UPA government, UPA scams
It will be silly to believe all that the CAG says, especially since we know that there are three kinds of lies - "lies, damned lies, and statistics" as Disraeli or someone is supposed to have said. I appreciate the comments of Mr. Prasenjit and Mr. Kuriakose above, they make sense. Let us analyse the report fully and then conclude - while there is no denying the element of corruption, the fact is that the CAG, as in the Telecom report, has conveniently mis-interpreted policy, which is none of their business. Without such policies, the price we Indian consumers would have had to pay for communication and electricity would have been phenomenal, and would have sent the country down the drain. Has CAG taken that into account. Or do their statistics, like the proverbial bikini, hide more than they reveal. Sad to see so many knee-jerk reactions among the commenters here - just shooting off their mouths without using their brains for analysis before speaking. And they think they are educated!
Even CAG himself say that,it did not blame anybody.But whole media etc
already termed it as "Scam".I am not trying to say that there were no mistake.But may have already become "Judges" and pronouncing
"Guilty/not guilty".Every time a decision is taken considering various variables which may of the commentators knew and they also might have
taken in their professional life.Sometimes it will be good and
sometimes bad.Even there no proof of MMS/other ministers specifically
favoring somebody or for his personal gain.Still when it comes to
public figures we give "instant judgement".If same thing happen in
professional life ,there is an option for us.ie change of job/person.If
we apply same analogy then every day/every hr there will be new
ministers,PMs,CMs etc.After sometime all 100 crore people will be Ex
ministers,PMs,CMs.Every government have their own judgement day ie
election.
Replying to Mr Prasenjit and Mr Karthik:
If your arguments are right why did the PM (who was also the Minister
in charge of the Department) himself propose the "auction" route
within weeks of taking office, (and why did so many Secretaries and
other senior people later object to departing from the "auction"
route), and again why was the policy actually changed to the "auction" route?
In other words, if "auction" route was wrong (i) why is it govt policy now, and (ii) why did the Minister in Charge & PM (a highly respected
economist) propose it himself?
Yes, minister. You will not agree with what CAG has reported. Tell us
when your party has taken responsibility for your actions. In case of 2G
scam, the honorable PM has said ' 2G scam - speak to Raja, CWG scam -
speak to Kalmadi, Adarsh scam - xxx. It is India's misfortune that a
party called Congress was not dissolved after gaining independence.
Jaiswal should also know that even after such a huge effort made by this government to meet the demand - till now depends on imports of coal from Indonesia/Austrailia to bridge the gap....if the effort was to meet the huge demand the demand was also not me, Mother India loosing her wealth and the only happy people are a few bussinessmen and unknown politicians who facilitated such a national disgrace.
Extremely disappointed that even the hon PM is also part of this corrupt crowd!!
When was Jaiswal appointed as a "Judge" ? Who is he to reject the findings of the CAG? Let here be a discussion in Parliament on this report and let the elected "representatives" decide on the merits of the report.
Or the Govt should scrap the CAG and offer VRS to all in the audit profession across the country.
President in his first adddress to the nation said that people should respect Instutions It was only for ANNA and Ramdev or for MAnmohan singh govenment who is insulting CAG
Shall we call this an unashamed response? By the way, Mr.Jaiswal, how about making
corruption legal? ,
The policies, specially on national resources, cannot be at the whims
and opinions of ministers. They have to be legal and in national
interest. Here, it appears, both got compromised but the minister still
disagrees!!!
Any inconvenient observation or comment from a responsible body like the CAG is junked by the government.Why then have a CAG and
incur unnecessary expenditure?The Government can as well scrap the post.
I too am surprised that the CAG came up with such a lucid report. As Subodh points
out, this may be he one of the last such reports. Light at the end of the tunnel --
good question. Let's discuss some solutions here. Moderators my plea to you,
please let the common man's thoughts flow unhindered. Jai Hiind!
I am no apologist on behalf of the Govt. At the same time I don't want
to be a part of the herd which has placed a ring of halo over CAG and
glorified his reports. CAG can only find fault and report loss arising
out of faulty implementation of an announced policy. If a new policy
is under discussion and has to be brought into force it is a political
decision and CAG should jolly well keep out of it. Why did CAG not
find fault witn nationalisation of coal mining or privatising coal
mining in the case of captive mines for Steel,Power or Cement? Why did
he not find fault with the humongous and unconscionable inefficiency
of Coal India, Central coalfields etc which has resulted in import of
70,000 Tonnes of coal annually. CAG is now as deeply politicised as
other institutions and like the judiciary is entering unwarrantedly
into policy making areas.
Any Government for safe guarding power,will not accept mistakes.The only
thing that the people can do is to vote that party from power at the
next elections.The country is being looted.Fed up with the present
government.Another Lal Bahadur Shastry or Vajpayee has to be brought
into the picture.
Such instances in flagrant violation of established rules and regulations to cater to
the selfish interests of politicians and the business community are coming to light
one after another in quick succession sending shock-waves to the entire nation.
The credit for disclosing this open loot of public exchequer by vested interests
should, in no small measure, go to the CAG who,as the watch-dog of the public
exchequer, has come out creditably in the eyes of the aam admi much to the
chagrin of those wielding power. Government as usual has been quick in refuting
portions of the report which go against their misdeeds. This being their culture
they will during the rest of the term in office continue with their nefarious practice
of promoting their own interests with impunity at the expense of the general
public. It is high time that the entire nation sinking their petty differences raise as
one voice to prevent these politicians from capturing power once again in the
2014 elections.
It is a joke report. If audit report say what was the calculated power
cost for this assumed coal cost, what will be the power situation
(demand and supply )for the same assumption etc then there will be more credibility to the report.
CAG not answerable anyone , has no business to dictate policy to
Government.
The argument provided by the Govt. that for the rapid growth of India, so and so policy is adopted, is totally nonsense. I have three point for that, first of all it is not for the rapid growth of nation, it is rapid growth for few individuals. Second, if the process followed is transparent and the govt. get higher profit, and than that money utilized properly for the welfare of the nation that is more helpful. Finally I want to say that, make the buying capacity of people more, by doing good for the society. This is serious type of corruption, crony capitalism.
It is difficult to comprehend as to how the government always says that
the CAG's method of calculation is not correct,when the
calculation/report is based on the laid down norms by the government
only. If the all the audited entities-public or private sector start
finding fault with the auditors like this,there would be utter
lawlessness and chaos
You see even a common man knows how to get the best price of his product then, why didn't this government understand this simple logic in selling those coal blocks.The policy of FCFS was totally unacceptable, even thou state government has given acceptance for that.I can't understand how we are going to become super power in 2020, with such a huge loss of revenue?
In reply to D Mahapatra's question - it is indeed true that natural resources should command a premium price. But do note that if government auctions coal resources out, private players would have to pay a lot of money to get the resources, and they in turn will charge the public how much ever they have spent via the auction. This will only jack up the prices. While I feel this is fair for petrol, more number of people (300 million) having no access to electricity may not be very ideal.
Can the CAG calculate in Rupee or dollar value India gained because of the policies and actions taken by MMS after he became finance minister in the 90s to this date that resulted in India becoming the country with the second largest growth rate?
Can CAG or for that matter any one who hate the Congress and MM S investigate and find out how much money MMS or certain congress ministers ( Pranab, AK Antony etc) made for themselves and their families?
Accounting can be done from so many angles. The most important thing is to find out if there was mala fide intent or selfish interest in making business, political and strategic decisions . If the answer is no the freedom of PM, ministers, Govt officers and managers to make decisions should not be curtailed. If their decisions were unwise and foolish then let them be voted out ( to bring in more competent people in their place and that is a big question; who that will be) but people who honestly work for the country should not be condemned as corrupt, unless proven that they acted with vested interest.
If there are leaders in the opposition with some vision and wisdom should realize this. Otherwise, as Vinobha Bave once said democracy will become a mockery like cat and dog fight; Dog biting the cat for some time ( 5 or less years) and the cat fighting the dog for some time ( 5 or less years) . The country and its poor will always suffer .
Should we conduct the most complex test for accounting , and make the first rank holder the PM of India? Or make the CAG the PM?
CAG's role is very important but do not jump and burn the country when his report comes. Listen and understand.
Emphasizing that those who indulged in corruption be brought to book, consider:
1. Did 2G increased wireless phone services in India?
2. Are not global and open tenders corruption free? Crooked rulers can do everything 100% " right" making it impossible for CAG to find even single mistake but yet loot the exchequer
3. Was there any hidden agenda to award the work to anyone who the PM favors. Did not all major players in the mining field got the work? ( How the major defense contract to make fighter aircrafts in USA are given to two companies? They don’t go for lowest bid!)
Is it not true that the alliance politics , and the adamant attitudes of DMK, TMC etc (and of course some congress ministers and leaders too) parties are seriously affecting MMS Govt’s functioning? The hands of MMS are tied.
The right thing is to clean Indian politics, vote only for honest and capable leaders. The challenge to people ( and Anna s if they want to do something for India) is to select Good leaders and throw the bad from all parties Not to make new parties and attack like mad dogs.
We should not jump guns on the basis of CAG report. Initially, in its
draft report, CAG said that the loss was over Rs. 10 lac crore. Now
this number has come down to Rs. 1.86 lac crore. How come? Also, one
of the above comments was comparing selling of one's house to selling
scarce public resource. In case of selling house a person looks to
maximize personal profit. Whereas the government also has to think
about the public and not just getting the maximum price out of the
selling. Don't you think power would be much more costly today if it
were auctioned off for exorbitant prices? We have to know about
complete history of how allocation has been done in India for so many
decades before deciding which policy is the optimum. Auctioning off
everything may not be the best case every time.
One more sad testimony to an endless series of scandals that continue to plague the
current UPA-II led by the Congress. I think it is more apt to call this the Corrupt party
and not the Congress Party. Our Prime Minister's Dr. Manmohan Singh's so called
"personal honesty" is nothing but a myth, a red herring and a tall tale to boot. He has
failed in all aspects of leadership and hides behind a wall of stoic silence. It is time
he takes some responsibility and not just resign, but dissolve the whole parliament
and call fresh elections. Perhaps, the citizens can judge who best to lead this nation
sooner rather than later.
If the government can reject every finding of the CAG, then why have a
CAG in the first place? The govt. might as well disband it & save public
money.
@ Mr Mohapatra... Policy making is the job of the Executive and not of
CAG or courts. If the CAG is so much in love with policy making then let
him get elected and become a minister.User of electricity cannot be
charged market linked price nor can we kill our industry by high
electric price resulting out of a high input cosst.If we auction these
coal blocks at the price the CAG feels like the cascading effect would
be uncontrollable.
The CAG is always wrong!!!! Earlier the 2G scam and now the coal block allocation.
Part of the Rs. 1.86 lakh crores, everybody knows where it would have gone! Has the
Government ever owned up its omissions?
As somebody put the coal minister has done a Sibal,
Everyone knows, scarce resources command a premium price. For example,
no sane person would sell his house on a FCFS or any other basis,
other than trying to get the highest price he can, consistent with any
other criteria/constraints he may have set.
Why is this common sense rule, accepted throughout the world from the
beginning of time, suspended in India? Why does the CAG need to point
out these basic lapses in governing the country, after the nation has
suffered the astronomical levels of losses?
How does India get into mess after mess like this (more to be found?),
when there does not appear to be any shortage of intelligent and
highly educated people (many from the best universities of the world)
living in the country? Does no one feel anything about cheating out
half the nation (majority illiterate) struggling to feed and clothe
themselves?
The coal minister has done a Sibal.
Everyone knows, scarce resources command a premium price. For example,
no sane person would sell his house on a FCFS or any other basis,
other than trying to get the highest price he can, consistent with any
other criteria/constraints he may have set.
Why is this common sense rule, accepted throughout the world from the
beginning of time, suspended in India? Why does the CAG need to point
out these basic lapses in governing the country, after the nation has
suffered the astronomical levels of losses?
How does India get into mess after mess like this (more to be found?),
when there does not appear to be any shortage of intelligent and
highly educated people (many in the best universities of the world)
living in the country? Does no one feel anything about cheating out
half the nation (majority illiterate) struggling to feed and clothe
themselves?
Not a suprise - tell me if there is a government that has ever accepted failure in policy making. The lessons the government has learnt from the 2G and coal allocation is - CAG is doing a good job for the coomon man but it is working against the politicians. So the action that the government will take at the very earliest is - fill the CAG with corrupt / less knowledgable people and make the CAG work for the politicians and not the people. The political class (from all political parties) are in a hurry to loot this country. I know I am sounding overly pessimistic but pleaese someone explain how and where do we see light at the end of the tunnel.
Corruption, thy name is what everyone now knows what ! How long will the country tolerate
the loot?
CAG observations are now used as a tool to topple the elected
govt.Everytime this constitutional body deviates from the established
procedures and hypothetically indulges in cynicism . Using Ifs and
buts and if at all are all imaginery conclusions. This auditor
officer is sensationalising the while thing for opposition gains.For
the windfall gain of the opposition these sort of unimaginery
observations are raised. Now all their actions are in suspect because
they misinterpret their mandate. Their calculations their methodology
create curious and curious.
Govt. losses are of soooo..... many Lakh Crores!
If CAG is right than there should only be BMWs and Audies on the roods what are Maruti's and two wheelers doing here in the land of rich where GOLD flows in the Ganga.
As per indian govt., Auditor General is not required for india. Better to shut down all the offices of India and save the money which govt. can easily loot...
Congratulations Congress,
Another feather to your cap. Kudos!!
Congress seems all out looting this country before 2013-2014 elections.
Waiting for Rahul Gandhi's comment on addition of another feather in Congress's cap.
Has anybody expected that Govt. would endorse/approve CAG Report on Coal?
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