Coal scam darkens Indian premier

India’s national auditor dealt a new blow to the beleaguered government on Friday, saying it had lost trillions of rupees by failing to auction coal mining rights to private companies. The hotly awaited report immediately sparked calls for the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The government argued that the auditors’ report was not the final word and would be studied by the parliament’s public accounts committee. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) estimated that since mid-2004 “financial gains to the tune of Rs1.86 trillion ($33.4 billion)” had likely accrued to the private operators who won coal blocks without competition in a murky allocation process instead of open bidding. “A part of this financial gain could have accrued to the national exchequer,” it added, while failing to give an estimate for the total loss to the state in the document which was presented to parliament. It said the problems of allocating coal rights instead of inviting bidders had been raised as far back as June 2004 when coal ministry officials had discussed the potential for windfall profits for private groups. Since then, no policy had been formulated and 142 coal blocks have been allocated. “This allocation lacked transparency and objectivity,” the CAG concluded. The auditors said the allocations were made on the recommendation of state governments. On Friday, opposition lawmakers slammed the government for not pushing ahead with legislation on auctioning procedures for coal fields that has been pending in parliament since 2006. Over the past year, a raft of scandals have surfaced involving ministers and senior officials over corruption charges in the hosting of the 2010 Commonwealth Games and the sale of cellphone spectrum that auditors said lost the country billions of dollars. From: Arabnews