Now, government sees ‘zero loss’ in coal too

Firstly the very pretext of allocation of the coal blocks without auction is to fast track the coal shortage? What happened to that? Later Indonesian coal imports were permitted to decrease the severe shortage of coal, later Indonesia levyis 25% tax which upset the Congress scheme to somehow make some money- Importers had to go to Africa, Austrailia - Burma effect is that the power tariff had to be increased blaming it on the incresed cost of fuel!!!!but 3+ years down the companies who were allocated did not start to mine and extract the coal- therefore Mr. Chidambaram is correct - No loss to Government- It was a loss to the common man who paid for all of this.

Everyone is talking about Policy paralysis, now there is a 'idea
paralysis', in the 2G scam also, the 'Zero loss' was put forth by the
government and it fell on its face. As soon as the new IT minister took
over, he went gaga over the 'zero loss' in the media. Is the same idea
being recycled.

UPA has very intelligent members but they have been making gross
misuse of their endowment. The Congress members have been advancing a
very silly argument about their involvement in Coalgate affair. In as
much as the coal has not yet been taken out of 'mother earth', there
is no loss and no malfeasance. If that be the case:
(1) A. Raja too can claim that in as much as spectrum was not yet
utilized there was no loss and he is not guilty.
(2) A corrupt officer or a public figure can claim that in as much as
the money received by him illegally is not yet spent, he is not
guilty.
The Congress pundits know this is a stupid argument and yet in their
desperation they are willing to hold on to any straw. The test of
culpability in an offense is not whether the spoils have been used by
the beneficiary, but the act of transference of the right to exploit
the resource. If the PM transferred the resource illegally, he is
guilty regardless of whether the resource was exploited or not.

The allegations on coal-blocks allocation look moving in tune with the 2G scam. Both came to surface with the CAG reports concerned. The UPA and the Government of India have been blaming the chief accountant of the country for various flaws and excesses. The absolute innocent-stand of defense in 2G now finds A.Raja and Kanimozhi in jail or on bail. The final locations of Chidambaram, Manmohan Singh and, probably, other higher-ups are yet not confirmed. The coal issue started with more fierce defense, with added inspiration from Soniaji. The contempt of CAG, visible U-turn in submissions to the House and to the Supreme Court etc. points to the direction of the case. That the policy has been the same since 1993, that the NDA government followed the same policy, that certain State Governments wanted to continue with the policy etc. do not justify the defense, especially after the submission of Ashok Chawla Report and its partial acceptance by the GOI. The argument of ‘zero loss if zero mining’ is not acceptable either. No mining is no return of anticipated gains and services which is truly a loss to the people.

The Government should focus on cutting Losses to the Exchequer, rather than trying to cover up the scams & come clean. What NDA did & what they did is not the issue. The issue is the Right Procedures were not followed. That was plainly due to the fact that they had to do favours for the Private Players. No Democracy in the world, where corrupt go scotfree & make speeches to claim innocence.
God save my Country!

This is strange reasoning which is against logic and common sense. Mining or or no mining Govt has lost the money by not collecting from the bidders. Not mining is the loss for the bidders. Otherwise they need to cancell all the bid immediately and auction it now.

Mr. Chidambaram states that if a thief stole my money, but did not spend it away, then there is "zero" loss. Zero loss to whom, Mr. Chidambaram? If the stolen loot is disgorged, still the owner is at a loss because the thief controlled and enjoyed the funds for a period. What he is missing is that the loss is in circumventing the legitimate processes and benefiting via cronyism, resulting in lockup of the assets which could be put to better use by one who values them more than what the looter got for nothing. A resource should be publicly auctioned off so that the person bidding the highest price values it the most.

Very unfortunate that PC could talk like this. The share prices of the companies benefitted of coal allocation went upto 30 to 40 times, immediately after the allocation. His theory of Zero loss means retraction of allocation; or suicidal of millions who invested? This shows that politicians when they are cornered could talk anything convenient to them but fails to think whether it convinces people or not. People should be careful in future that whenever such allocations or licences are made / issued to a company they should also try calculate loss to the Govt and see whether there is any possiblity of retraction or 'retrospective' taxation and then only decide on investment..:-))

For 2g scam Mr. Sibal defended Mr. Raja former telecom minister and
declared that the loss to government by allotting the rare spectrum on
first come first served basis, is zero. In coal gate scam Mr. Chiddu
has come to the rescue of the PM and declared that the loss is zero.
The Congress seems to be near to Zero in all the scams. It is likely
to get zero seats in 2014 elections if the scams list go on ever
increasing.

Nothing surprising. Whenever the Auditor makes a critical comment and
reports the Finance team's first reaction is always the same. The only
difference is that if a scam of this order was to happen in a
corporate world, the first person to be sacked is the finance head.
The FM not only failed to stop whatever wrong happened (now it is
established that wrong happened), the FM failed go through the PM or
the Cabinet to stop the wrong happening. This is how anybody familiar
with corporate way of management and governance would look at, but in
politics the days of Aya Rams and Gaya Rams are gone but the days of
Rajas and Chidambarams are on. Remember the same FM as a minister
earlier resigned on moral grounds when the Harshad Mehta scam broke
out.

CAG is one of the highest constitutional bodies and is a Govt. auditor.
If the Govt. does not respect the report of its own auditor, where is
the legitimacy to PC's statements whose election from Siva Ganga in
Tamil Nadu is itself under cloud.

What would have happened if CAG had not brought the wrongdoing to light? Would not have the allotees gone ahed and mined the material and made huge illegal profits? Should we wait till any offence is played out fully causing great loss to the country before taking any action? Surely the argument is akin to a situation wherin a burglar caught soon after the burglary claiming innocence because he had not disposed of the stolen articles and are with him intact.

I do not agree with zero loss theory. If these coal blocks were auctioned, Govt would have received 1.86 lakh crores irrespective of the fact that even 01 Kg of coal is mined out or not.
Here these coal blocks were distributed at nominal prices hence Govt lost 1.86 lakh crores even if no coal was mined out.
Hence where is the zero loss?

Government seems in defensive mode but question is this can people of this country rely upon these leaders? They are saying Zero loss just like they earlier said in 2G case. Both ruling and oppostion don't have willingness to talk on this issue. They are just wasting public money.

There is a folk story in Tamilnadu which goes like this:A thief entered
a coconut grove and started climbing a tree.Suddenly the watchman of the
coconut grove and shouted "hey what are you doing?"Pat came tthe reply I am climbing the tree to get some grass for my cattle"To which the
watchman replied "But grass cannot be found on top of coconut tree!"The thief answered "Yes so I am going out without causing any loss to the grove"

To maintain the validity of its theory of zero loss in the coal scam, is the government going to cancel the current coal blocks allocations and reallocate them afresh adopting bidding process or any other process that would benefit the public exchequer to the maximum?

Government is trying to confuse people for their mismanagement and
allowing corruption. Allowing natural resources to be extracted without
adequate value is a loss and allowing incompetent firms is corruption.

they have no shame--where were they when this issue erupted--why were they
silent--they want to loot the country--greed is at the top--may God give them
sense to rule the nation sensibly

Sir,it is a fact that many of the coal blocks now under comment by the CAG in their report have not yet commenced operation due to want of forest clearance from the concerned state govts and heavy capital expenditure in underground mining work. We have seen that some of the firms,like Reliance Infra(Anil Ambani Gr) who have been allotted coal mines on the basis of Govt policy under audit comment are ready to surrender their rights! I wonder why our CAG is not yet commenting on the Budget of 2011(march) when the then FM lowered the Sr citizens age from 65 to 60 for IT purposes! This benefited only the wealthy class retiring at 60 yrs all over the country.We all have now witnessed heavy revenue deficits(over 5.1%)now in 2012-2013 as a direct effect.

Is BJP believes in Parliamentary democracy ? If they believe in a democracy,they should allow the PM to make a statement and discussion can take place after. Nothing is achieved by disrupting democratic institutions,rather it is going to affect BJP very bady in the next election.

So Mr Chidambaram,as Home Minister, please do not allow police to pick up rowdy sheeters in advance even you have information that they are going to loot or murder, as it will be presumptive arrest and not valid until they actually commit the crime. What a joke??

Instead of waiting to present his statement in parliament, the prime minister can present it to the people via media so people can judge if there was zero loss to the nation as claimed by the finance minister. People voted for UPA hoping for better government. But all UPA ministers so far stated that they followed the NDA policies in allotting coal block thereby indirectly admitting they made the same mistakes. What are government's standard operating procedures in allotting coal blocks for development by corporations?

Logic of a corrupt polician will be that by stealing an amount of money some work will be generated incurring additional expenditure leading to increased production with trickling some wealth to the poorer section,thus leading to wealth creation.
Our great honest leader be bestowed with some wealth!

If there is zero loss for the Govt. then it means zero gain for the allottees.Are the allottees distilled fools to trade for zero gain?

In my opinion it is a good thing that this has come out atleast at this
point after all. Look at the better side of this any future governments
will never be able to pull this of doling out natural resources to
private companies. As per Supreme Court order all natural resources have
to be auctioned.

It is not necessary to mine coal to have a loss. A company which has
managed to get coal blocks cheap can sell its shares for a much higher
value than it would have been had it not got the coal blocks. This is
exactly how holders of the 122 licenses cancelled by the Supreme Court
made money.

There is substance in the press statement made by the Finance Minister
on the coal blocks and CAG report. It is funny that in an already flawed
democracy such as ours Parliament is not being allowed to function. The
problem in this country is that there is too much of "Chimpanzee
Politics" (Social manipulation for personal gain).

I agree with Mr. Chidambarams statements. The title could perhaps have been made to sound better, than smell of controversy.

Let the CAG answer to the point. How he had counted such an whopping
loss to the Exchequer when the merchandise itself is still lying under
the ground unexploited? If his job is to work out 'Presumptive losses',
coal is not going to be the last resource for him. He will find
presumptive losses and wasteful expenditure everywhere, even in his own
backyard if he takes a look. With his 'hypothetical loss' audit reports,
he is creating lot of confusion and providing excellent means to
ignorant politicians to indulge in dirty politics.

Mr.P.C. will either be defending his Govt's scams or threatening the Banking Sector. It is high time that PM asks his conscience to judge whether the country is being run properly. If the south lobby minted a windfall in telecom 2G scam, the northern lobby seems to have reciprocated with coalgate.

I think the Government should get it in their mind that they can fool
some people all the people, all the people some of the time but they
can never fool all the people all the time. There has been no
substantial development in the congress regime even with the increase
of taxes. The value of rupee has fallen. The Indian economy is
dwindling, there is too much inflation, too many scams coming to
light. I think its better that someone takes responsibility of
whatever wrong that has been done rather than passing the baton or
completely sidelining the negative points. If this government gets
another term, I would seriously doubt the thinking process of my
countrymen.

Yes, its zero loss because its not the loss for these Minsters ,they
made very huge profit out of it. it may be loss for the country but who
cares as long as there pocket is full.but these ministers also do not be
worried have to be about the corruption charges because they have lived
there life now even if they have to go to jail it will not going to be
too long. What they doing just destroying Indian politics and congress
party that's it.

>Knowing well that this was happening and it was not good, just telling that UPA and NDA partners tried to bring more transparency satisfies none but NDA perhaps, and it reveals the nexus between the two groups in looting the countries resource for their cronies. Why did not the minister raise alarm as it is done now? It is not easy to rescind allotments if alltotment is legal, specially when international interests are also involve d, we have seen it in 3G. To say that CAG is wrong in estimating the loss because the fields have not been exploited is trying to fool the intelligent people of India by the foolish rather cunning people ruling over them.)

Repeat of 2G in offing.
Why the allottees have been allowed to sit on the allocations? Is it not an additional favor
and proves that allotments have been to non-bonafides?

Everybody needs to understand that for a developing country its assets
(minerals, spectrum, land etc.) are so very important because it
balances the country finances and helps to fund growth to improve the
living standards of its citizens. If during a country's development
process the assets are badly managed (like India - 2G, Coalgate etc.)
then growth suffers which means living standards suffer. Look at
Greece and the wider EU countries - they are staring at bankruptcy
because the countries cant balance its books and there is nothing to
sell (i.e land, resources etc.). We ought to put pressure on the
political class to ensure the policies / laws enacted are in country's
best interest. The private sector cannot and will not take the
country's interests into account because for a private company only
one thing matters and that is share price. It is important that we
citizens ensure that the government stays focused to improve the life
of its citizens.

'...I think, thanks to rising prosperity in the country over the last few years, we are all enamoured about the numbers which run into six digits and nine digits," he (FM) added.
~ The most sagacious sarcasm since Marie Antoinette's Cake!

How is one to interpret what Mr PC is saying? That decades of graft must be handled patiently? That is possible no doubt, if there is evidence of steady progress against graft. But if patience means, inaction, people will be frustrated and demand drastic action.
Having said that, do the people really want graft and corruption removed? People include the business class. Will the business class refrain from this activity. In the case of the coal scandal, will the business leaders tell the ministers "Hey! We have applied for the coal block, and we as a group will not want any preferential treatment. So allocate as per the rules.".
Either I am on crack, or live in a genuinely utopian world. The need to not having corruption comes from the people, and the leaders they elect. Period. If people cannot affect the change, one cannot do a whole lot.Bottom line, our leaders reflect the people.

completely agree , this allegation does not make any sense .. no one is selling coal from there. i think we should now check for any foreign hands behind these allegations to destabilize the nation. I dont see it as a movement against the GOVT but this is a plot against the system and the country..

If concerned ministers could take decisions to give away spectrum and coal blocks at throw
away prices without at least the PM and the FM if not the entire cabinet knowing about it,
then there is something seriously wrong about the way the government is functioning. To find
out whether there was any criminal dimension to any such decision making, the government
will have to order an enquiry into its own decisions through its own investigating agency,
that is the CBI. The system is made to order to facilitate crony capitalism and corruption. The courts will not point this out since it an administrative matter. Hence the corruption saga will merrily continue.

How would the government make or loose money if the coal is mined and sold under valued? If he is just talking about the tax to be collected on the mined coal, then what about the loss incurred in doling out the mines almost for free?

A mining company should acquire coal blocks by paying a lump sum to the government. It should price its mined coal after factoring in the coal block acquisition cost, operational costs and profit margin. If that price (minus profit) happens to be above the prevailing market rates, then they end up in a loss. Otherwise they make profit and pay tax (sales, corporate, income, etc.) to the government.
Am I missing something?

The Home Minister's expression of innocence of the Government through
his statement "since the coal is not mined there is no loss" and also
calling the "concept of presumtive loss" of the CAG as 'totally
flawed' amazes one, no-end. Not only the argument is rather galling
and the government's attempt to put up a facade of injured innocence,
is quite disingenuous. Is it mr. Mr.Chidambaram's contention that a
thief caught red-handed and in the act can't be construed of having
committed the crime and thus innocent? and it's the duty of the Govt's
Auditor to act and prescribe panacea only after the Horse has bolted-
away? Ordinary Citizens are flummoxed by the weird and shameless
reasoning of ruling Govts indulging in to defend their criminal
Policies.Another laughable argument put forth by the minister
contending that the same looting policies are in place since 1993 and
it's nothing new.. why this hue and cry by all, now? As a ruling govt
they have the right to loot, indeed! Very bold!!

I find it shocking that this guy thinks there is rising prosperity in
the country. This is like the French empress who said that the French peasantry should eat cakes if they could eat bread whilst the country
was in the midst of acute food shortages.
He sounds extremely well-informed and to-the-point, but there's no
substance in his argument that if no actual mining has taken place
there's no loss. Does he mean that we should wait for those benefiting
from this massive fraud (his eminent person included perhaps) to line
their pockets before we pounce on their lies and duplicity?
The other part of his alleged logic too is nonsense. Simply announcing
a new and transparent method of allocation does not do anything, when
the execution of that method has been mired in corruption.

mr.chidambram remarks that there is no loss as coal is still not mined is brazen.he himself contradicts this statement by saying this"they are using same policy since 1993" .so is country selling is coal cheaply since 1993.Govt. is making fun of constitutional body like CAG by saying that all the figures that come it comes to in all scams are WRONG.do Govt. really think that public is fool.

It is very surprising that there is no serious debate on 'coalgate'.
everybody is speaking on a different plane and media is reporting them
faithfully without seeing holes in the arguments.
the major issue is that even after processing the recommendation that coal blocks should be auctioned and not rejecting it the upa government continued the feudal system. the argument that only one of the allocated mine is being mined is invalid because remaining allocations have not been cancelled. the second argument that many states including bjp ruled states opposed auction of coal blocks is also not intelligent because than the upa government should have rejected the recommendation of auction. the basic thing is the reply
given by the upa government to cag when it pointed out the scam. that reply should be made public. the argument that the upa followed the tradition is laughable because the issue arose only after the recomendation of auction. till than making money was permissible.

With Chidambaram's logic, I can sell my neighbour's Mercedes for Rs.100 without consent, when he/she is out of station as long as the person who I sold it to doesn't use it. The car isn't being 'used' by anyone... right?
Public property is the public's. You can't arbitrarily sell it at as you please.

Those stake holders who have paid money for the coal blocks have not started mining and only one coal block is being mined as per the government statement. Therefore there is no loss as pointed out by the government, then why it is pointed out by CAG or they have no idea of audit and loss is on hypothetical assumptions. If it is true then why there is uproar on this issue in the parliament and stalling the parliament. As a common man it is beyond my imagination who is right government, CAG or the BJP. The nation has the right to know the truth.

It is very easy to fool uneducated, politically unaware citizens. A very good example of this is what Congress Party is doing now.
They allocated all those coal blocks to some private parties causing public exchequers of this country an estimated loss of 2 lakhs cores. If those bolks were auctioned, Govt could have got that 2 lakh cores to utilize development of the people of this nation. Why they are in dening mode giving some face saving excuses ? Because, all the politicians know very well, mass population of this nation is uneducated or half educated & most of them are politically dumb. So, its very easy to make people fool.

How does it matters whether those mining has happened or not ? You sold the property of this nation to some private parties gaining them making 2 lakh corers & now saying them have not yet mined them ?
Its like selling a Rs 25000 TV, for Rs 25, & than saying the customer has not yet switched on the TV yet ! Strange politicians & their excuses!

" out of a total of 57 coal blocks taken for audit by CAG, only one
is being mined and rest are still unexploited" . Beautiful. What is
the problem in terminating the allocation now for the remaining 56
blocks? Do we have to wait for the apex court to do so? Should we
have to waste our energy in this way. Every time the CAG is at
'fault' means why should there be a 45000 strong force to do
auditing? If the CAG is faltering who will take action against them?
Even a script writer or a poet for a movie won't accept a single word
of change from their composition. How and Why the people of the
country should waste its time on a report/s which is not accepted by
the very own government repeatedly? I expect a single sentence spoken
by the media or our leaders ,"DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE". I know none
would be there to do so. Like this thousands of livelihood issues are
crying for attention. Should we all listen/watch a tamasha day in day
out?

His comments once again reflect that people are floating with prosperity, and as FM, he would prefer, for getting more revenue to the government, taxing the people instead of judicious allocation of natural resources to corporates. Common man like me will definitely feel that even if CAG figures in both the scams (2G and Coalgate)together are 50 per cent true, FM could do with less taxes on us. Montek Singh would have more money to build "common toilets" in all the villages of India as against his preference for Rs 30-lakh 'single' toilet in his office.

What I am seeing is Kapil Sibbal in between and A. Raja and Kanzhimodi
on the left and right.
Govt. again came with no zero loss theroy.

What a lame argument! Auctioning of any reserve is done on forecasted prices and once the ownership of a reserve is transferred, its as good as having lost all the reserves. For example, say you have an oil well and you have to sell it...you will definitely see how much oil you have and how much will it fetch in the market and subtract that with the cost to extract it...you will define your price for the oil well based on that...once you have sold the oil well cheap assuming oil price as way lower than the market price, it doesn't matter if the buyer has started exploration or not...as far as you are concerned, you didn't cash in on the opportunity to make that money yourself! Similarly, the government cannot hide from the fact that they have cost the nation a huge sum of money (not nitpicking on whether it is 1.86 lakh crores or 1.30 lakh crores)

PC's no loss theory is preposterous. I think he has taken a cue from the
US congressman Todd Akin. What PC means is that if there is no result of
the wrong Allocation(Rape)then the Allocation(Rape) cannot be construed
as illegal and immoral. I think he is revolutionizing the theory of
presumtive loss in line with Akin's theory of Rape. There is also
another similarity between the two. Akin is a member of a committee on
science and technology and PC the minister of finace. Both are doing
injustice to the disciplines they represent.

Eventhough Chidambaram says the opposition has a flawed point, his smart looking argument has 3 flaws. 1)His claim that UPA has finally brought out law for auction, why it was done only after the allocations had been made and that too after 2G scam came to light? 2)Presumptive loss, is it not a bad concept?? As a former Home minister, he should clarify why Police would pick up all rowdy sheeters under PD Act before any possible voilence or he wants them to be arrested after the loot or murder is committed?? Is it that Government should wait until the loot of not one but all the 57 blocks is over as UPA had already set a precedent by allocating 2G sprectum and all audit by CAG was post-facto the Raja's misdeed? 3) As Finance minister, six or nine digit numbers are his every day food but for common man whose per capita is less than 3 digits, the figures are bewildering. He & Montek have contempt for poor man and they make uncharitable comments on his food habits and poverty line mark.

Dear respected Finance minister,
The CAG has not blamed the GOVT for bringing about a change in the procedure of allocating coal blocks, instead it has blamed some corrupt/inefficient bureaucrats who took more than 7 years to proceed with the alternatve policy on coal bloack allocation which was initiated by our beloved PM. You can't take a shielding saying BJP ruled states oppossed for the change of policy, what is more important is, what did the GOVT do to bring the states on par with the changed policy and how much effort was put by the GOVT to bring in the consensus(which this GOVT has utterly failed to do in many cases)

For govt. loss matters only if it is done to exchequer. what about the loss, which common people suffered at their saving front, which happened due to buying inflated power and product which were directly or indirectly attached with the coal as companies had to import dearer coal because of shortage of coal within the country. Perhaps in my understanding, savings are also inevitable for achieving growth, which is your responsibility also Mr. FM.

Our P.M. must speak, the nation should listen. CAG report is man made, it is not final! Parliament can expose the subject matter but Supreme Court has to give the verdict. CAG cannot become judiciary. If they start doing "half news" to the public, then no body can rule the nation.
Politicians ruin the nation, now the administrations put their nose! BEWARE.

There is a real conspiracy to topple this govt.Swamy BJP and their
sister organisaions spreading canards chiding maligning the govt and
the Cong. The supreme courts decision in rejecting the petitions of
the hatred and most crooked S.Swamy.Trying to magnify the 2G the scam
and assuming themselves as the commanding and unlistening BJp Party
had learnt the lessons of the most personal hatred politics from this
verdict. Taking the coalgate they dictate terms and asked the head of
the govt to resign.They think everybody are fools and taking the
tolerance of the govt as weakness these mad Character assasins should
be eliminated from the political arena.After Ram Mandirs poor poll
flank they take CAG as their god and stooped to so low level that no
body will bear their attrocities.

Even if the the coal is not mined, it has been sold to the private companies on a dirt cheap rate and the damage is done. Not mining of the coal basically shows that it was sold to those companies which don't have experience in the field and have been just waiting to resell it to other coal companies at a higher price. It is utter nonsense as well as arrogance on the part of the government to come out like this. Sorry to say that the Congress has lost its credibility not because of any design by others (Anna, Ramdev or other political parties) but because of its corrupt practices, arrogance and insensitivity.

That's a shocking and shameless reply and it can not be expected from responsible public authorities. Literally they have not defended that Coal Block allocation was done honestly but Govt is saying that no Coal has been mined. As a member of public everybody can question whether the PMO would had undone the coal block allocation automatically had the CAG not reported it before our Parliament.

LOL !!!

Mr. Chidambaram says, a thief cannot be called as a thief until he starts consuming the theft money. Very silly Guy!

An analogy would be, if I steal gold from your house but do not sell it
would not be called as theft. The logic of some of these ministers
defies the laws of physics. Maybe they came from another galaxy.

Coal blocks alloted but not unmined so far does not make any sense that loss has not occured . But we have opportunity to avoid losses of lakhs of crores rupees by cancelling all coal blocks alloted without competitive bidding and and reallotment of these blocks be done by adopoting best method followed globally . Government has got opportunity to rectify its mistake and this need to be done without any further delay . This step will only salvge the government eroded credibility.

Will the Finance Minister come forward to look into a similar case
when
Railway was taking the concrete sleepers merrily and utilised those
sleepers for safety related and construction works ignoring a fall
clause provision in the Letter of Acceptance which was also not fully
agreed by the contractor. Even the fall clause did not appear when a
single tender was floated.The agreement was not also signed. As usual
Audit raised objections and Rly replied that if sleepers are not
taken, there would be escalation of cost in the projects and safety
related works would be affected. But a lower rung official was
unnecessarily harassed and pension was cut. But in the departmental
equiry the case was not proved. inspite of this, punishment was
imposed. Even the CAT and High court verdict was against the
Government. Honest officers are tackled and made scapegoat though
there is no loss to the Government.It is the order of the day.

Coal is not mined, agreed, but it is sold to the companies at cheaper rates. So, are you ready to cancel those licenses as in 2G?
PC is only left in Congress batallion after Manish Tiwari, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Kapil Sibal, Salman Khurshid, Digvijay Singh were sidelined for their stupid theories/talks/naked cd's. I wish PC's 2009 Election case in Madras High Court decides something soon, so that he can go into dark too.

It is a very ridiculous argument that there is no presumptive
loss as the coal is not yet mined (in 56 of the 57 blocks).
Suppose the government sold a cow for Rs. 1,000 at only 5% of the
prevailing market price of say Rs. 20,000 that an auction would
have brought. The government has a presumptive loss of Rs. 19,000
irrespective of whether the buyer has yet to milk the cow or not.
The fact that 56 of 57 blocks have yet to be mined is probably
indicative of a possibility that the buyers lacked the capital
investment involved in mining and were only speculative buyers;
or unqualified buyer in some manner or other. It is amazing that
the power sector is short of coal, and the government is taking
credit for selling the blocks to buyers that have failed to
accelerate production so badly needed.

Here is where the loss is, Mr Chidambaram - those that paid bribes or yet to pay bribes to government officials and politicians and those that stood to gain unfairly! Now that the no-bid contracts have been exposed, please don't ask these dumb questions as if complete innocence has been maintained. The moment there is a contract to mine a resource, and that contract has terms that define a loss to the exchequer, it is perfectly fair to claim such a loss. A crime has been stopped, but that doesn't mean a crime was not attempted!

Dear chidambaram sir, people voted for congress so that you would do
something different than our predecessor government. But if you keep
saying we followed NDA regime, why do congress has to exist as a
different party? Harvard graduate P.Chidambaram and Cambridge graduate
Dr. Manmohan singh arent supposed to play blame games but rather
contribute something which is good for the people. what you did in
spectrum and in coal block allocation is sheer negligence of the fact
that its the people's wealth you are giving for free to private
companies. I really hope you stop blaming and start acting.

In accounting terms, I believe that once a commitment has been made to sell the coal underground, to a buyer, at a given price lower than the market price, the wealth would already have been transferred from the government to the buyer, regardless of whether or not the coal has been mined. Any views different from this opinion is welcome.

This is directed to Mr. Chidambaram. Forget the opposition, as a
citizen, I have a question for you. Since you are saying that no mining
has started in 56 out of 57 mines that your friends have allocated, can
you assure us that these coal blocks will be taken back and given to
interested parties through an auction route.

Well I'm sure the coal hasn't been mined yet. But Imagine all those
parties who would start mining and start making abnormal profits.

That sound absurd! Having inked some deal / decision and by giving your consent to it by all means, it is indeed a stupidity to say that the mining is yet to be started.In India, honesty and political ethics are at it's rock-bottom ! Pity indeed !

Very lucky, they have not sold BLACK GOLD--Diamond.
1)As an anology, if Govt.had sold Diamond mines instead of Coal at
Rs100/- per Ton and the buyer has not mined Diamond--Mr PC will say
Govt. did not loose hence no loss!!!
2) If the buyer has not mined for 5/6 years, what was the emergency,to
sell without proper tendering/Auctioning.
3)Congress claimed that by selling the coal mines at throw away
prices,the energy prices are reduced.If the buyer has not yet
mined,where is the reduced price of ENERGY.Govt is considering
increasing electricity prices,when coal mining will START from the
SCAM related mines will start.
4)Will the govt. give me at Rs 1000/-per KOLO 1000Kgs of gold which I
promise I will not NOT.Mr PC can hide with the argument, I did not
sell it as such, CAG cannot declare LOSS to Govt?
TOTAL FAILURE OF OPPOSITION ALSO AS THIS MUST HAVE BEEN RAISED BY THEM
& NOT BY CAG. Casts doubts if they were aware & involved!!!

It is unfortunate and sad that the eminent Advocates elected to
protect the country people and democracy now started advocating every
faults, failures and scams wasting their talent much against their own
conscience forgetting that the common man is regretting and loosing
their confidence in the existing system with frustration. This is the
most unhealthy trend setting only bad precedence and would lead to
damaging consequenses and ultimately exposing themselves and their
greed for power, position and money. Instead they should think of
building a healthy moral Democretic society to get worshiped by people
and utter only well thought-out statements with facts (truths)with
good intentions to protect the mother land its people and democracy
This is the prayer felt by honest citizens. Media also should ensure
this to happen with a determination to protect the healthy Democracy.

That is a very valid point Mr.Chidambaram , we should wait for mining to
be completed before raising any fingers.

So, once again CAG has done a zero sum job. Well,India, take this dose of poison for your
health!

So, once again CAG has done a zero sum job. Well,India, take this dose pf poison for your
health!

So what is the revenue due to the government after they mine the coal? Who will monitor
that - what has been the past experience since 1994. What is the revenue obtained after
allocation of coal blocks and is there any criteria for the revenue generation? Since it
involves moving people, fighting insurgency, urban crowding without infrastructure which
again allows theft of electricity water land for their accommodation.

The loss is incurred because now we have to IMPORT the coal from the U.S. which will
cost us in crores and so we lose valuable dollars! The one allocation that is given is
irresponsibly mined in what is known as open cast mining. Entire hills are on fire as
this type of mining causes coal to burn when it comes in contact with the heat and the
air. Tonnes of coal has been lost because of the fires, not to mention the pollution the
displaced Adivasis who work in these mines have to suffer through. It is because of
this danger the British mined coal through underground shafts. But here we have quick
bucks to be made bypassing good sense and apparently a Fukushima sort of situation
is presently enacted in Jharkand where the hills cannot be doused out as the fires keep
recurring and this will go on for hundreds of years, contaminating the area. We cannot
get a few dollars to buy software for our work on the net but govt. can waste dollars
buying coal. Such irresponsible arrogant behavior!

If coal is not mined yet, what was the need to urgently allocate coal blocks without waiting for change in allocation policy(auction)? The malified intentions are very clear

A person who points a loaded gun, but does not pull trigger, to Prime Minister's head should not be arrested by this logic.

So the Govt. is arguing that the coal block allocations were just TEST allocations and that REAL allocations REALLY MEANT FOR MINING is yet to be made!!! What a stupid argument by unfaithful leaders.

The wise man PC should answer why the coal was not mined even after 7 years? If the coal blocks were auctioned the allotted firms would have taken all efforts to get a return on investment as early as possible and it would have benefited the country.
It is obvious that undue favors were shown due to flawed policies of this government.

For once the govt needs to own up to the rot and corruption that has
been institutionalized in all parts of government. The question is not
whether the coal has been mined but the fact that it was auctioned
through a less than opaque process that ensured huge windfall profits
for the various parties involved. The mining itself is not an issue as
the whole debate is revolving around the corruption in the auction
process itself rather than the mining.

Is there any flaw in the Govts statement? If not, what is the issue. We
also have to keep in mind that several Govt auctions in other fields
have been converted into a farce by the various parties joining together
and quoting minimal quotes.

Haha.. If calls haven't been made yet, where is the loss by spectrum ??

If corrupt money hasn't been spent yet, where is the loss by corruption then ??

"If coal is not mined, where is the loss?" : So that means if I give a
ransom to kill a person and the police somehow busts the plan,I be
should be declared innocent.
"The UPA was being unnecessarily targeted for following procedures
adopted by the governments since 1994 in allocating coal blocks
without auction" : So that means if the predecessors were corrupt
and/or ignorant we should carry forward their legacy, and continue
enjoying the fruits of bribery. Anyway the public is blind and mum
which never opposes. And if somehow they come to know about it we will
fool them by some funny statements using sold out/ soulless media.

Mr. Chidambaram's explanation - “If coal is not mined, if it remains buried in mother earth, where is the loss? The loss can arise only once the coal is taken out of mother earth, mined and sold at unacceptable price or value. But if the coal is not mined, where is the loss” - is very pathetic. It goes on to show that this govt. thrives on incompetence.
According to CAG no coal has been mined so far in 56 out of the 57 blocks allocated in last 8 years. This is a massive loss for India when country's power sector is facing huge shortage of coal supply. A number of power projects are running on less than capacity and many power projects are delayed for lack of coal supply. Coal supply shortage is crippling India's power sector. My question is why coal blocks were allocated to incompetent companies at throwaway prices?

Mr. Chidambaram is defending his govt's corruption by lauding the incompetence of companies who are sitting idle on Coal Blocks, a valuable national resource.

Why were the coal fields allotted to private companies? to mine? or to
preserve in the mother earth? people can't understand the logic involved
in government's question.

If this "scam" had not been made public, the remaining 56 blocks would
have been mined. Then there WOULD have been a loss of 185L Crores. Would
he be happy then?

As a layman I would think that what was auctioned was the right to mine and sell. This right could have been auctioned at a higher price. That is CAG's finding. I don't understand Mr.Chidambaram's logic!

If coal is not mined, where is the loss? What a specious argument?
Hence if no crops are grown because you withhold the seed there is no
HUNGER? Correct? Such replies come from asylums. Why are ministers
there in the government ? To create scams? Why have a minister if he
cant see the atrocity he is committing ? Sickening is the word for the
governing technique. In Industry one would have been sacked the next
day for that attitude. Instead of increasing revenue for public
consumption govt have done so for private consumption and have the
guts to defend it? THE PM SHOULD show some self respect and
acknowledge his failing like an honorable man he is supposed to be and
resign along with YOU

Mr. Chidambaram, "coal remains buried in mother earth". But, does the Government have any authority over it when you have allocated it already to private parties? You may like to extend your argument to other cases: "Black money remains safe in Swiss accounts. So, there is no loss to the public. It is still there in the bank account" or "the 2G bribe is safe with Raja, he has not spent a rupee of that. So, there is no loss in 2G spectrum allocation".

As mining was not carried out, cancell the allotments. PC himself admits loss would occur only when it mined and sold at unacceptable price. To avoid such a scenario cancell all the deals.

If coal is not mined for the last 4-5yrs (since 2008), then how the required resource was met. if coal was not mined then why CAG is making a report on this.
Congress should address all this basic questions. Is the companies are just sitting without doing any mining after allocation.

PC has decided to stand for MMS in this case though it is impertinent
in the eyes of democratic values: the minister responsible for
allocating the coal parcels was MMS and he should now in the stalemate
of the parliamentary proceedings prepare a detailed report and explain
on how he allocated the prime natural resource including the
intricacies of the NDA government and summon the press and provide
them a copy; he should also provide the same to all members of both
houses and call for a debate. If the opposition still refutes, then it
is best to call the President to summon them to parliament. However my
sincere opinion is that MMS has failed to come out audaciously even
until now hence it is best that he tenders his resignation and leaves
the office of the PM like Dayanidhi Maran did in the implication of
himself and his brother and Ananda Krishnan in the Aircel matter. It
would be in the best interest of democracy and the nation.

This is most absurd statement i have ever heard. consider an analogy that a thief stolen valuable items(coal) from your house(Government coffer) and he has not sold it in market, so item owner(gov) should feel happy that there is no loss to him, since item(coal) has not been sold by thief.

Amazing is the Finance Minister's logic! What happened to the 2004
recommendations/acceptances etc? The Government spokesmen are blowing hot and
cold and contradict themselves on all counts. Why not deal with the Audit report in
perspective. It is only a few days back that Mr.Kapil Sibal adroitly reversed his stand.

The loss to exchequer is due to allocation of coal fields and not due to mining of coal. Even if coal is not mined from those coal blocks, they have been allocated without a proper procedure. CAG report has raised glaring inconsistencies in coal block allocations made by current government. Just give clarification on that with proper proof. Please don't think that we are fool.

I would like to ask Mr. Chidambaram and Mr. Jaiswal whether they
are trying to say that they are brainless and can't do anything
new other than folowing the old practices. What is the point in
saying they just followed what the previous government did? The
conditions are different now and you being the leaders sent to
the parliament by the people of this country needs you to act in
a much more matured way with right decisions or amendment at the
right time. If you say you are just following what BJP did, then
we the citizens are sure that you people are sitting in
parliament and wasting tax payers money. We don't need Congress
or BJP or Communist. We need true patriots who are willing to
work for the country as our leaders. we are frustrated and fed up
of all the scams by each governments. Please do have the minimum
love for the country. Jai Hind!

In spectrum allocation UPA followed the NDA lead; in coal block allocation ditto. Either they are admitting that NDA had set the standrad for decision making or the Governemnt is so bankrupt of ideas that it followed NDA blindly.
Now the question is not what the previous Governemt did; but how you could cheat the population of their rightful dues.
I am sure the UPA governemnt cannot organise a purge in a laxative factory unless NDA has done it earlier.

Finally all will be angels beyond doubt as expected!!!!. And by no means the black money kept in overseas accounts will be brought out. Indians should not vote for any alliances at least next time. Vote for some party that promises overall change in taking up the corruption charges, black money and overall development of India.