"I seek the indulgence of House to make a statement on issues regarding coal block allocations which have been the subject of much discussion in the press and on which several Hon'ble members have also expressed concern. The issue arise from a report of Comptroller & Auditor General which has been tabled in Parliament & remitted to PAC. CAG reports are normally discussed in detail in PAC, when the Ministry is concerned responds to the issues raised. The PAC then submit its report to the Speaker and that Report is then discussed in Parliament.
I seek your indulgence to depart from this established procedure because of the nature of allegations that are being made and because I was holding the charge of Coal Minister for a part of the time covered by the report. I want to assure Hon'ble Members that as the Minister in charge, I take full responsibility for the decisions of the Ministry. I wish to say that any allegations of impropriety are without basis and unsupported by the facts. Allocation of coal blocks to private companies for captive use commenced in 1993, after the Coal Mines Act, 1973 was amended. This was done with the objective of attractive private investments in specified end uses. As the economy grew in size, the demand for coal also grew and it became evident that Coal India Ltd, along would not be able to meet the growing demand.
The CAG report is critical of allocations mainly on three counts. Firstly, it states that the Screening Committee did not follow a transparent and objective method while making recommendations for allocation of coal blocks. Secondly, it observes that competitive bidding could have been introduced in 2006 by amending the administrative instructions in vogue instead of going through a prolonged legal examination of the issue which delayed the decision making process. Finally, the report mentions that the delay in introduction of competitive bidding rendered the existing process beneficial to a large number of private companies. According to assumptions & computations made by the CAG, there is a financial gain of about Rs 1.86 lakh crore to private sector..
Let me state emphatically that it has always been the intention of Govt to augment production of coal by making available coal blocks for captive mining through transparent processes and guidelines which fully took into the account the legitimate concerns of all stakeholders, including State Governments. The implicit suggestion of CAG that the Govt should have circumvented the legislative process through administrative instructions, over the registered objections of several state governments including those ruled by opposition parties."
I seek your indulgence to depart from this established procedure because of the nature of allegations that are being made and because I was holding the charge of Coal Minister for a part of the time covered by the report. I want to assure Hon'ble Members that as the Minister in charge, I take full responsibility for the decisions of the Ministry. I wish to say that any allegations of impropriety are without basis and unsupported by the facts. Allocation of coal blocks to private companies for captive use commenced in 1993, after the Coal Mines Act, 1973 was amended. This was done with the objective of attractive private investments in specified end uses. As the economy grew in size, the demand for coal also grew and it became evident that Coal India Ltd, along would not be able to meet the growing demand.
The CAG report is critical of allocations mainly on three counts. Firstly, it states that the Screening Committee did not follow a transparent and objective method while making recommendations for allocation of coal blocks. Secondly, it observes that competitive bidding could have been introduced in 2006 by amending the administrative instructions in vogue instead of going through a prolonged legal examination of the issue which delayed the decision making process. Finally, the report mentions that the delay in introduction of competitive bidding rendered the existing process beneficial to a large number of private companies. According to assumptions & computations made by the CAG, there is a financial gain of about Rs 1.86 lakh crore to private sector..
Let me state emphatically that it has always been the intention of Govt to augment production of coal by making available coal blocks for captive mining through transparent processes and guidelines which fully took into the account the legitimate concerns of all stakeholders, including State Governments. The implicit suggestion of CAG that the Govt should have circumvented the legislative process through administrative instructions, over the registered objections of several state governments including those ruled by opposition parties."
