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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | CAG lens on Rajasthan mine allocations -Pradeep Thakur

CAG lens on Rajasthan mine allocations -Pradeep Thakur

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published Published on Oct 15, 2015   modified Modified on Oct 15, 2015
-The Times of India

NEW DELHI: The Comptroller and Auditor General has constituted a special team to review allocations of at least 623 mines by the Rajasthan government in 2014-15. The report is expected to be finalized in three months.

Though it is a regular audit process, the issue has assumed significance after Congress on Wednesday approached the central vigilance commission seeking a CBI probe alleging a Rs 45,000 crore scam in "arbitrary" allocation of mines.

Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje had come under the opposition attack after her principal secretary (mines) Ashok Singhvi was arrested last month by the state's vigilance department in an alleged bribery case. The anti-corruption bureau also claimed to have recovered 'bribe money' from some of the accused who had allegedly brokered deals with the mining officials.

A source said the principal accountant general of Rajasthan has already constituted a special team to look into the mining licences allocated by the state government to ascertain whether they have been done according to the laid down norms and if the state exchequer had suffered any revenue loss due to such allocations.

The CAG has in the past commented on government policies like in the 2G spectrum allocations where the federal auditor had estimated loss to the exchequer to the tune of Rs 1.76 lakh crore due to the Centre's faulty policy of allocation of spectrum based on 'first-come-first served' basis.

The Rajasthan unit of Congress has alleged a similar discretion adopted by the Vasundhara Raje government in allocation of mines in the state. The opposition has alleged that the mines had mineral deposits worth approximately Rs 2 lakh crore and the state would have gained by more than Rs 45,000 crore if they were auctioned.

A Congress delegation led by former CM Ashok Gehlot, state Congress chief Sachin Pilot and opposition leader in the Rajasthan assembly Rameshwar Dudi approached the CVC and later told reporters that the alleged allocation was done in a hurry to circumvent the Centre's plan to notify the amended Mines and Minerals Development & Regulation (MMDR) Act which would have ensured auction of the mines.

"The PM is going around Bihar talking about a sting of Rs 4 lakh bribe but he's taking no action on a scam of this scale," Dudi said.

"Centre had issued a circular on October 30 last year to states asking them not to issue any mining licence till the amended MMDR Act comes into play. But the Rajasthan government, in a hurry, allocated 653 mines after October," the Congress leaders said told a press conference.

The auditor is likely to review all the decisions of the state government on the allocation of mining licences. The CAG had in a report, tabled in the state assembly in the last monsoon session, raised concerns on the lack of internal checks in the mining department while reviewing the management and control of leases in the state.

The Times of India, 15 October, 2015, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/CAG-lens-on-Rajasthan-mine-allocations/articleshow/49366178.cms


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