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Now, government sees ‘zero loss’ in coal too -Sujay Mehdudia
-The Hindu

CAG’s concept of presumptive loss flawed: Chidambaram

Upset at the “unreasonable” disruption of Parliament by the BJP on the issue of allocation of coal blocks and the CAG report, the government went on the offensive on Friday, terming totally flawed the Comptroller and Auditor-General’s concept of presumptive loss and maintaining that no loss took place because the coal was still unexploited.

“The policy for allocation of coal blocks has been the same since 1993. The NDA government also allocated coal blocks under the same policy. In fact, UPA-I brought more transparency in the process in 2004 and further tried to fine-tune the policy to make it more transparent by initiating… competitive bidding. But I deeply regret the presumptive loss concept as it is totally flawed. If coal is not mined, where is the loss? The loss will occur only if coal is sold at a certain price or undervalued,” Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said at a press conference, which he addressed with Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal and Law and Justice Minister Salman Khurshid.

Parliament was disrupted for the fourth day on Friday, with the BJP demanding Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s resignation after the CAG made adverse remarks on the coal blocks allocation during 2004-09.

In an indication that the government was taking the battle to the Opposition’s camp, Mr. Chidambaram alleged that the Opposition, mainly the BJP, was not allowing Parliament to function and unwilling to discuss the issue. “We urge the Opposition to come back to the House on Monday and let the Prime Minister make a statement, which could be followed by a debate. We are ready for a debate anytime. The Prime Minister has not been allowed to make a statement, which is very disappointing. I once again make a fervent appeal to the Opposition to come back and debate…,” he said.

Mr. Chidambaram said the UPA was being unnecessarily targeted for following procedures adopted by governments since 1993. Interestingly, he pointed out, of a total of 57 coal blocks taken up for audit by the CAG, only one was being mined and the rest were yet to be exploited. “I think, thanks to the rising prosperity in the country over the last few years, we are all enamoured of the numbers which run into six digits and nine digits.”

What was more shocking, Mr. Chidambaram said, was the fact that the UPA was being attacked for taking the initiative to put in place a transparent way of allocating coal blocks by amending the law. “A government which brought about — although after some time — a successful change in policy is being blamed for continuation of a policy that had its origin many years before the UPA came into being. So, if you did nothing, you are not to be blamed. If you try to bring about a change, you are to be blamed. Is that the standard by which we will conduct our public affairs?”

As for the delay in changing the policy, Mr. Chidambaram said a majority of the coal-bearing States had opposed auction. “The Centre could have changed the procedure by an executive order, but decided not to [do so] because that would have amounted to riding roughshod over the States.”