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| Coal report not final, |
| Coal report not final, causes us great embarrassment: CAG writes to Prime Minister
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| INDIA
, 22-March-2012
10:38:37 AM |
| In a season where its weaknesses have been repeatedly exposed, the government is now trouble-shooting a report that states, it cost the country 10.7 lakh crores because it did not auction coal-fields from 2004 to 2009. The draft report which was leaked is prepared by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG). It finds that 155 coalfields were sold to about 100 companies and some state-run firms without competitive bidding. The auditor does not make accusations of corruption, but says the government extended "undue benefits" to the companies and that, the sale of the coalfields was "subjective" and allowed "windfall gains." (Excerpts from coal scam report by Govt auditor (CAG)
The Prime Minister oversaw the coal ministry for some of the period in question in the draft report. In Parliament, angry opposition leaders demanded an explanation from Dr Manmohan Singh, forcing several adjournments of both Houses.
By the afternoon, the Prime Minister's Office had released a letter from the Comptroller and Auditor General of India this afternoon. The letter allegedly states that "In the extant case the details being brought out were observations which are under discussion at a very preliminary stage and do not even constitute our pre-final draft and hence are exceedingly misleading...Pursuant to clarification provided by the Ministry in exit conferences held on 9.02.2012 and 9.03.2012, we have changed our thinking .... In fact it is not even our case that the unintended benefit to the allottee is an equivalent loss to the exchequer. The leak of the initial draft causes great embarrassment as the Audit Report is still under preparation." (Prime Minister's Office on CAG report on coal mining)
The Prime Minister today said that since the CAG had clarified that there is no report on allotment of coal blocks, there was no need for the government to clarify in Parliament.
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