In a press conference at Shimla, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal tried to defend UPA Govt over Coalgate and claimed that there is no scam in it. Minsiter claimed that BJP is carrying a misleading propaganda on Coalgate and had wasted about 80 percent of parliament time.
Though, he claimed that there is no scam in the distribution of coal blocks, but asserted that criminal action would be taken against those who had obtained coal blocks presenting wrong facts. He said
The Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) has been reviewing every case to ascertain whether or not the companies have adhered to the milestones set in the agreement to make the mines operational and in case there are slippages the allotment could be cancelled. In fact, the IMG had started the review soon after an announcement was made by the Finance Minister in the Budget session to this effect, much before the CAG report came out. Its report is expected around September 15
The union minister was specially came to poll bound Hiamchal Pradesh and addressed press conference in its capital to clear the air after the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) recent report said private players had made windfall gains worth Rs.1.86 lakh crore in the 142 coal blocks allocated by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government 2006-09. Bansal said that BJP is just talking about Rs.1.86 lakh crore, but the fact of investment of Rs 3,30,000 lakh crore should be discussed along side.
While asking about the cancellation of blocks, he said that Govt don’t want to create an atmosphere of fear among the investors by cancelling allotment of 57 blocks for captive mining. He claimed that it will give a wrong message that India is not a safe country for investment.
Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal was accompanied by HPCC president Virbhadra Singh, Vidya Stokes, State Party in-charge Birender Singh Chaudhary, Kaul Singh, MLA Sudhir Sharma, Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu and Mukesh Agnihotri.
