In reply to a comment by goks to my blog on CAG Repor “Please wait.
The Government will come with a story on excessive availability of Coal and hence there were no demand.
So they wanted to create demand!t on Coalgate I replied ‘
Now Congress is trying to come out with a statement
“The Supreme Court, while cancelling the 2G licences, did not make any observation with regard to the presumptive loss. If the apex court would have been convinced of averments of CAG, they would have endorsed the presumptive loss”, he said.
“CAG will be well served by keeping this precedent in mind and not keep adding zeros, which unnecessarily sensationalize and vitiates the environment”, he said.”
I saw in a TV report(was it TimesNow?) that the power price might have gone up if the tender process was followed!
In the spirit of helping Congress, I would like to reply on their behalf.
The CAG Report should have been approved by the Supreme Court before being tabled in the Parliament,
By not doing so , the CAG is undermining the Legislature and the People of India.
Coal until it is sold and Cash is realized is a worthless stone,
How come the CAG put a value on the Loss?
If the Coal Blocks were tendered and allocated as suggested by the CAG, Power prices would have gone up.
Being the critical factor in Economy,the increase in Power Price would have triggered Inflation further and would have led to further poor rating by International Credit Rating Agencies.
It was anticipated that the Monsoon would fail in 2012 and tendering would have taken a lot of time.
Being short of Water,Power Generation would have been affected in Thermal Stations.
The companies who received the allocation have the necessary Infrastructure which the Government lacks.
If one were to go by History and Anthropology, it is clear Coal was not made available by tendering Process.
The Prime Minister was aware of the developments and had instructed the Ministry of Power and Ministry of Establishments to ensure that there is transparency in Public Life.
The Law Ministry sent a Circular to all the Class IV Employees that the Coal Block allocation is to be conducted.
The CAG report which was available at the time of posting this blog went missing after a couple of days in the Link provided here .
I posted a blog on this.
Then after a week, the report was available.
Now it has gone missing today( 7.30 am.13 May 2013)
The Supreme court has passed strictures on the CBI for showing the report to the Law Ministry and PMO and for having it altered .
The Supreme Courts Observations,
“
The affidavit, submitted by CBI director Ranjit Sinha, says that the Prime Minister’s Office and Coal Joint Secretary removed part of paragraph on non-existence of specific weightage or points in the system of allocation.
The Law Minister deleted finding on non-preparation of broadsheets or charts by the screening committee. The Law Minister also deleted a sentence on finding on scope of inquiry on legality of allocation.
But the CBI has emphasised that a draft status report was shared with the political executive and the Attorney General, not the status report it submitted to the court in sealed cover a few days later.
The affidavit claims that no names of suspect or accused were removed from the status report and that no suspect or accused were let off in the process.
It also says that consequent changes in the report have neither altered its central theme nor shifted the focus of inquiries in any manner.
It is, however, difficult at this stage to attribute each change to a particular person with certainty, according to the affidavit.
The CBI affidavit also names officials of PMO and Coal ministry, who had perused the draft report and on whose suggestions changes were made in it. Mr Sinha said Shatrughan Singh and A K Bhalla, the joint secretaries in PMO and ministry of coal respectively were “in regular interaction” with his officers with regard to ongoing inquiry in the coal scam.
The CBI chief also extended an unconditional apology to the court for any inadvertent omission or commission and assured it of an independent probe in the coal scam.
The Supreme Court had, after a stinging critique of the CBI last week, asked the agency for crucial details of a meeting at Mr Kumar’s office a few days before the report was submitted, where the minister allegedly vetted it.
Sources say Law Minister Ashwani Kumar met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to explain the latest developments. Mr Kumar told the PM that the government, which is reeling under the massive coal scandal, will emerge stronger after the Supreme Court’s next hearing on Wednesday, the sources added”
Source ndtv.
Earlier Post.
I blogged about an hour back that the CAG site was not available.
Now I found that it is working all right.
I blogged about an hour back that the CAG site was not available.
Now I found that it is working all right.
I am reproducing excerpts and Links to CAG Report on Coal Block allocations,
Essar House, Essar Group Headquarters, Mumbai, India (Photo credit: Wikipedia)English: Wordmark of Tata Steel (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
I have blogged quite extensively on 2G Scam,Antrix-Devas,ISRO scams quoting and extensively from the CAG site http://cag.gov.in/
Now,the site seems to be unavailable.
The page cannot be found
The page you are looking for might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.’
”
If some one can tell me why and inform me how to get to the site I will be grateful.
The Coal allocation has followed the set pattern of ‘no competitive bidding, preference to one Company(Reliance),Diversion of Coal to a power project and undue benefit of Rs. 3.06 lakh crores to private parties.
The Prime Minister, who held the coal portfolio for a considerable time during the period .
The Prime Minister is allowed an escape route in that the ‘screening committee was’ was held responsible by the CAG.
‘blame fell on the Screening Committee consisting of officials for the allocation “which lacked transparency, objectivity and competition”.
Not following the Rules to float tenders was started by 2 G Scam(or was it earlier?)
In the earlier cases like 2G,ISRO, Antrix-Devas, the PM was not in the picture as the Minister in charge.Now there is improvement.he was the Minister of the Department.
Note that some of the Companies reported to have been benefited are the same as those enjoyed the benefits in the 2G-
Reliance, Essar Group, and Tata Steels.
Tata Steels is a part of the Tata Empire which was involved through another subsidiary of its Group in 2G.
Were there ‘paperless discussions’ in this as well?
Wherever there is corruption on a massive scale the DMK can not be far behind.
Was it on this?
Does Nira Radia have any information on this as she was lobbying for Tatas and Reliance?
Quotes.
CAG says DIAL to get undue benefit of Rs 3,415.25 cr from levy of development fee on passengers at Delhi Airport.
Undue benefits of Rs 3.06 lakh cr to private parties: CAG
Already under attack over various scams, government today faced a fusillade from the CAG which has estimated “undue benefits” of over Rs 3.06 lakh crore to private parties in coal blocks allotment without bidding, Delhi airport development and diversion of coal to a power project.
The CAG attack came when three of its reports on coal allocation, development of Delhi airport by GMR-led DIAL and ultra mega power project of Reliance Power Ltd were tabled in Parliament today.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), however, brought down the estimated loss in the allocation of 142 coal blocks since July 2004 from Rs 10.7 lakh crore in the draft report to over Rs 1.85 lakh crore being the benefit to private allottees.
The CAG has estimated a potential earning capacity of Rs 1,63,557 crore to DIAL when it was given Delhi airport land on a concessional lease.
The CAG said it has arrived at the estimates based on the average cost of production and average sale price of opencast mines of Coal India in the year 2010-11.
The CAG has not only recommended immediate coal block auction but also an FIPB like single window for clearances among other things.
Here is a look at the key conclusions that the report highlights and the subsequent recommendations given:
Conclusions:
> CIL could not match with the rate of increase in coal production envisaged by the Planning Commission as there were delays in execution of various capacity addition projects due to lack of coordinated and planned approach by various government agencies involved in statutory clearances and land acquisition.
> Till 1993, there were no specific criteria for allocation of coal blocks. The process of bringing in transparency and objectivity in the allocation process of coal blocks, which commenced from 28 June 2004, got delayed at various stages and the same is yet to materialise (February 2012) even after a lapse of seven years.
> The financial impact of the benefit to the private allottees has been estimated at Rs 1.85,591.34 crore as on 31 March 2011. The Government could have tapped a part of this financial benefit by expediting decision on competitive bidding for allocation of coal blocks.
> Out of 28 producing blocks as on 30 June 2011, in case of ten blocks, there was time overrun ranging from one to ten years from the normative production schedules.
“Three key CAG reports were tabled in Parliament on Friday indicting the government of causing a combined loss of crores of rupees to the national exchequer.
The much-awaited CAG report on coal block allotment said private firms are likely to gain Rs 1.86 lakh crore from coal blocks that were allocated to them on nomination basis instead of competitive bidding.”
English: Hon. Anna Hazare in Nanded , Maharastra . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In his ‘nth’ fast unto death, Anna Hazare,not being able to find an excuse to end his ‘fast’ has now threatened to call off his fast because
of his/’Kejriwal’s followers were involved in a scuffle with the Media on Monday.
In fact while we were driving yesterday.I was telling my son that Anna Hazare will find a novel reason to quit the fast.
How true!
A false Messiah,that too self-appointed,can only breed anarchy.
If he were sincere he should resolve that unless his followers behave properly he shall continue his fast unto death and not an excuse to end it.
Look at the bad blood between Anna and Kejriwal and where is the joker in the pack, Kiran Bedi?
Good that the Media has realised that he no longer gets them TRP and stopped ‘telecast Live’ his antics.
Story:
New Delhi, Jul 31: Anna Hazare was upset over the scuffle between his supporters and media personnel at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Monday, Jul 30. The Gandhian was so upset with his team and other supporters that he threatened to end the protest.
However, a crucial Team Anna member, Arvind Kejriwal, who has been continuing his fast protest for the last six days, on Tuesday, Jul 31 apologised to media for “misbehaviour” of their supporters.
Despite Kejriwal’s apology, it seems that the anti-graft crusader was not convinced and announcedthat he will call off the protest if his supporters and aides continue to misbehave with the media. The septuagenarian also urged his team and supporters to desist from any confrontation with mediapersons.
The incident took place around 10 pm, when Hazare supporters entered into an argument with the mediapersons. A team Anna member’s allegation that the media was not projecting the protest in the right light led to the scuffle.
Key Team Anna member Kumar Vishwas condemned the incident and said the scuffle should not have taken place. Meanwhile, the Broadcast Editors’ Association (BEA) has condemned the incident and demanded an apology from Team Anna.
Following the scuffle, BEA on Tuesday issued a press release where it claimed, “The Broadcast Editors’ Association strongly condemns attack on media by Anna supporters. The BEA believes that this is an interference in the functioning of media. The media is discharging its legitimate duty of covering the agitation in a fair manner. The BEA seeks an immediate apology from Team Anna for the misbehaviour by its supporters.”
Along with Kejriwal, the Gandhian crusader also started his fast and continued his protest for the third day on Tuesday. This time the team demanded an independent probe by Special Investigation Team (SIT) against 14 Union Cabinet ministers including Manmohan Singh. Team Anna, however, spared Pranab Mukherjee as he is protected by immunity from facing legal action after becoming the President of India.
** Tamils who follow Gounda Mani Comedy will know what is ‘Start the Music’
Related:
Anna Hazare’s fight against Corruption,though well-intentioned, is not Right, the way he goes about it.
The issue is to be handled by Parliament and not by a Group of people, arm twisting the elected body by going out in the streets.
Any one who muster crowd and media support can resort to this to defy or enact a Law in their interests.
Other option,considering that the political rogues, is to force the MPs bySatyagraha against them in their constituency and make them bring in or vote for the legislation people want.
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