MUMBAI: Senior BJP Lok Sabha member Hansraj Ahir, a member of the parliamentary standing committee on coal and steel, on Monday urged PM Manmohan Singh to immediately cancel all the coal blocks allotted to the private sector in the national interest.
"There is absolutely no dispute on The Times of India's report on the CAG's observations on massive losses owing to failure of the government to auction coal blocks. In my opinion, the losses are much more than estimated by the CAG. In the national interest, the PM must step in and cancel all the coal blocks allotted to the private sector,'' Ahir said.
Ahir, a three-term MP from Chandrapur in the backward Vidarbha region, was the first Lok Sabha member to alert not only the coal and finance minister , but even the Prime Minister on the ill-advised coal policy, but no stringent measures were taken to halt allotment of coal blocks to the private sector. "I have a record. Between 2005 and 2008, I wrote 20 letters to the coal and finance minister and 19 letters to the PM. Unfortunately , no action was taken on my letters,'' Ahir told ToI.
More shocking was the fact that in August 2010, when 138 coal blocks were available for allotment, he had specifically raised the issue in Parliament, saying in the larger interest of the country, these blocks should be allotted to the staterun Coal India. "The coal minister had assured me on the floor of the House that priority will be given to CIL. But when the allotment orders were issued , it was found that all the 138 blocks were allotted to the private sector,'' Ahir said.
Secondly, Ahir said even after Parliament passed a legislation to provide for allotment of coal blocks exclusively to the state-run enterprises, the coal ministry allotted coal blocks to the private sector. "In fact, on several occasions, the auctioning of the coal blocks was discussed in the parliamentary standing committee and we were assured that there will be no arbitrary allotment of coal blocks, but the assurance was never implemented in letter and spirit. Prima facie, it appears that the entire coal ministry was working for the private sector,'' he said.
Ahir said in his home town Chandrapur, a huge coal block was allotted to a leading industrialist , who later sold it for Rs 6000 crore. "The Centre had allotted him the coal blocks. As per rules, the entrepreneur has to pay a royalty of Rs 120 per metric tonne. A few months later , the entrepreneur sold the entire block to another entrepreneur for Rs 6000 crore. Now the whole dispute is pending before the high court,'' he said.
"There is absolutely no dispute on The Times of India's report on the CAG's observations on massive losses owing to failure of the government to auction coal blocks. In my opinion, the losses are much more than estimated by the CAG. In the national interest, the PM must step in and cancel all the coal blocks allotted to the private sector,'' Ahir said.
Ahir, a three-term MP from Chandrapur in the backward Vidarbha region, was the first Lok Sabha member to alert not only the coal and finance minister , but even the Prime Minister on the ill-advised coal policy, but no stringent measures were taken to halt allotment of coal blocks to the private sector. "I have a record. Between 2005 and 2008, I wrote 20 letters to the coal and finance minister and 19 letters to the PM. Unfortunately , no action was taken on my letters,'' Ahir told ToI.
More shocking was the fact that in August 2010, when 138 coal blocks were available for allotment, he had specifically raised the issue in Parliament, saying in the larger interest of the country, these blocks should be allotted to the staterun Coal India. "The coal minister had assured me on the floor of the House that priority will be given to CIL. But when the allotment orders were issued , it was found that all the 138 blocks were allotted to the private sector,'' Ahir said.
Secondly, Ahir said even after Parliament passed a legislation to provide for allotment of coal blocks exclusively to the state-run enterprises, the coal ministry allotted coal blocks to the private sector. "In fact, on several occasions, the auctioning of the coal blocks was discussed in the parliamentary standing committee and we were assured that there will be no arbitrary allotment of coal blocks, but the assurance was never implemented in letter and spirit. Prima facie, it appears that the entire coal ministry was working for the private sector,'' he said.
Ahir said in his home town Chandrapur, a huge coal block was allotted to a leading industrialist , who later sold it for Rs 6000 crore. "The Centre had allotted him the coal blocks. As per rules, the entrepreneur has to pay a royalty of Rs 120 per metric tonne. A few months later , the entrepreneur sold the entire block to another entrepreneur for Rs 6000 crore. Now the whole dispute is pending before the high court,'' he said.
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