Mr. Jairam Ramesh’s two-part article (April 18 and April 29) on the Krishna-Godavari Basin gas prospecting scam is a shocking revelation of how the nation’s precious natural resources are being looted. When Mr. Ramesh has been able to ferret out vital information, how is it that the primary investigating agencies are fumbling in the dark? At the same time, it is also pertinent to ask him what the United Progressive Alliance government was doing about such a blatant misuse of public money when, under the Congress-led government, the Petroleum Ministry would certainly have had knowledge of dwindling gas reserves.
Jude Vallabadas,Chennai
Even though the writer is a member of a scam-tainted party, it need not be dismissed as an instance of the pot calling the kettle black. Of course, in a project of this nature, some money is bound to go down the drain before one strikes gold. But given that the amount involved here, that is almost Rs.20,000 crore, is mind-boggling, the matter needs to be investigated, as the allegations are indeed serious.
S. Jagathsimhan Nair,Thiruvananthapuram
It appears that the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation spent a sum in excess of $3 billion in what is a failed exploration venture. Compare this with British Petroleum’s annual exploration expenditure of $7 billion and which is distributed over 15-25 exploration wells in different areas to spread out the risk. The usual practice at most smaller oil and gas companies which make promising discoveries is to bring in experienced partners to partake in the risks. It would appear that the GSPC followed a somewhat unconventional route in its exploration journey.
Amrit Bhat,London
The article has exposed the chinks in the hyped Gujarat model of development. It is no small amount nor is it a presumptive loss. Will the Finance Minister explain the rationale for such a colossal waste of public money? Or will he simply shrug it off claiming that it was a “commercial transaction between two parties”, as he asserted not long ago but in a different context?
Dharmana Suran Naidu,Hyderabad
The KG scam involves a whopping Rs.19,700 crore loss, yet it is not spoken of as extensively as the 2G and Coalgate scams involving presumptive losses. It is clear that the discovery of one of India’s “biggest gas reserves” has been a hoax perpetrated on us in order to loot public money. The grandiose claim that it would make the country energy-surplus then also went unchallenged. India’s tragedy is that leaders from across the political spectrum thrive on the endemic corruption in the system.
G. David Milton,Maruthancode, Tamil Nadu
There are concrete facts and sound arguments which will easily convince even laymen about the illogical acts on the part of the GSPC even after becoming well aware that the gas reserves were not even a negligible percentage of what they were originally presumed to be. Will the truth be unearthed?
K.D. Viswanaathan,Coimbatore
