Likening the 2G spectrum allocation without an auction to various social benefit schemes being implemented without any pecuniary gains for the government, Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi rejected the notion that such measures could be seen as causing loss to the exchequer.
Even the Tamil Nadu government could have saved Rs.17,921 crore if it had not implemented various welfare schemes.
“Can we say it is loss to the government to the tune of Rs.17,921 crore?,” he asked in a statement here on Tuesday.
Recalling the State government's decision to implement the recommendations of the 6th Pay Commission of the Central government by spending Rs.5,500 crore, allocation of food subsidy to the tune of Rs.4,000 crore and various other subsidies, he said a welfare state could not be run with the objective of making pecuniary gains.
Mr. Karunanidhi also pointed out that the Centre had released Rs.55,578 crore as subsidy for food and another Rs.49,980 crore for fertilizers.
Pointing out that different officials had come out with different explanations about the loss, he said former Union Minster Arun Shourie, who held the portfolio of Communications and Information Technology in the NDA government, had estimated it at around Rs.30,000 crore.
Reiterating that the decision to allocate spectrum on first-come, first-served basis was taken during the BJP regime with a view to enhancing telecommunication services availability for people, he said there was no basis for the argument that Mr. Raja took a unilateral decision on the issue.
Mr. Karunanidhi also explained how the prices of cell phones and tariff had come down over the years, saying while there were 30 crore cell phone users in the country when Mr. Raja assumed the office of IT Minster, the figure had now touched 73 crore.
He rejected the demand for a probe by a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) into the scam, saying that similar inquiries into irregularities in the purchase of arms, share market scam and pesticides scam did not produce the desired results.
