By Urikar Sangma
The UPA govt is now desperately trying to wriggle out of the coalgate scam by saying that, the CAG’s figure of loss of more than 1.86 lakh crores is presumptive and that, there is zero loss for the exchequer because the coal is still inside the earth. Chidambaram, the finance minister while saying so, has very conveniently forgotten to mention that, immediately after coal blocks were allotted to big private corporate bodies the like the Tatas, Reliance Power, JSW, JSPL, etc, their share prices simply skyrocketed. For example, immediately after getting their share of coal the Reliance Power, which is a relatively new company, came out with a public issue of Rs 450 for a share of Rs 10; that’s a clear jump of 45 times. After getting their share of coal, the shares of JSW rose from Rs 200 to Rs 1400, GBK’s from Rs 13 to Rs 90 JSPL from Rs 46 to Rs 550, Sterilized from Rs 70 to Rs 270 etc. Interestingly, this sudden rise in their shares took place within 8 to 12 months after these private parties were allocated coal by the UPA Government. Now, if that isn’t an undue favour to private parties and a huge loss to the Government then what is it? To make matters worse, the majority of private parties allocated coal, have already sold their shares to others, with huge profits, in direct violation of contractual agreements. This in itself is difficult for the UPA to explain, because now the ownership of these coal mines have changed and the Government no longer controls them. This whole exercise has resulted in a huge loss to the exchequer. So, how can Government claim “zero loss?”
According to Geological Survey of India, as on 1st April 2012, India’s coal reserve are around 118 billion tons. Experts say this will run out by the year 2040, unless new technologies are adopted to go deeper to explore the untapped resources. Keeping this in view and the fact that generation of revenue is the primary task of the government, one would have thought that, it was all the more necessary for the government to have gone all out to auction the coal, to generate the much needed revenue for sustaining development programs, rather than to allocate the coal blocks in question, to select groups of private parties and big corporate bodies.
Further, the process to bring about a change in the coal policy had started, way back in 2005. In his recent speech in Parliament the PM tried to justify the inordinate delay, in the proposed change for competitive biddings by saying that, the consensus building process amongst various parties with divergent views, had taken considerable time. If that is so how can he explain that the concerned file or the matter, was lying unattended for four long years, in the PMO without a single consultative committee being held to deliberate on the issue? Why was there such a tearing hurry to allot 142 numbers of huge coal blocks, that too, to a select group of companies when it was known that, it could take considerable time to bring about a change in the existing policy? And the interesting part is that, the CAG, a constitutional body, in their recent report had clearly observed that changes in laws were not required, to invite competitive biddings. And if at all such changes were felt necessary, then this could have been done, by simply amending the existing administrative instructions. Its only now, because of the “hue and cry” raised by the opposition and to a certain extent by the media that, the Government has started to speed up the process of change, but, it is not yet operational.
The main justification by the PM for allocation of coal blocks to private players is that there was a pressing need for coal for generating power. But the fact is that 11 of the biggest privately owned captive power plants of the country, to whom huge coal blocks were allocated, haven’t even started producing power till date. Hence the justification behind the decision to allot coal blocks to these private parties is untenable. Another justification given by the Government is that previous governments had followed the same policy in allocation of coal. Now, just because successive governments had followed the same policy, it cannot be the criteria or the justification for the present UPA govt. or for that matter, for any responsible government to do the same, when it was known all along that there was an inherent flaw in the policy.
Further, and more importantly, whether the loss is more than 1.86 lakh crores or less is not the real issue here. The issue is, whether irregularities and improprieties were committed in the process of allocation of coal. In the given circumstances the records available clearly indicate that, the answer is a clear “YES”. There is now a strong evidence for anyone to say here that, the PM is directly involved in the coalgate scam and this is absolutely clear from the fact that, it was because of his specific directions that, the coal blocks were not auctioned, but, allotted to private parties at throw away prices, without inviting competitive bidding, in complete violation of established rules and norms, resulting in huge loss of public money, even though, the then Secretary, Coal department had met the PM not once, but, several times impressing upon him the need to auction the coal blocks. Even the Committee within the PMO had recommended the auction of coal.
One needs to keep in mind that, in any government institution or organization, even if a chair is needed to be provided for the official use of a minister or a government employee the same is required to be procured, through competitive bidding or tender. In fact over the years, the finance department itself has issued umpteen numbers of instructions to all concerned to adhere to this rule strictly and scrupulously. Now here is a case, where 44 billion tons of coal were not auctioned but given away to private parties at throw away prices by violating the norms that the government says should be scrupulously followed. It is clear therefore that the present government cannot be trusted with the country’s assets.
Whatever the members of the UPA govt may have to say on the issue, it is now widely acknowledged that, the PM is at fault for deliberately allowing massive loss of public money and for favoring private parties some of whose credentials are downright questionable. Notwithstanding the long distinguished political career that the PM may have had, there is now a big question mark, not only on his personal integrity but also on his ability to lead the country in a transparent manner. Given this background, PM therefore, needs to accept that, he has made a terrible mistake, if not committed unacceptable impropriety, unbecoming of his high office and should make a graceful exit; the sooner, the better. It is simply disquieting that, the head of office of this nation could be involved in corruption of such magnitude, even peripherally.
But, having said that, it is now widely believed that, the present chief of governance is a mere “puppet” in the hands of the “powers that be” and perhaps, he was simply following what he was told to do. If public assessment is to be believed then clearly a decision of such magnitude couldn’t have been taken by the puppet alone, without at least a tacit approval of his “BOSS.” The boss is now coolly laughing away her heart out, smug, confident and content at the thought that, the puppet is now forced to bear the full brunt of public frustration and anger for something in which, he may not have been an entirely willing partner! “Poor puppet”, I feel real sorry for him, but, I suppose, this is what politics is all about and I guess, this is why; it is called “dirty politics”.