Stateside view of coal block allotment
On January 13, 2006, six coal blocks of BJP-ruled Chhattisgarh were allotted to various companies. The same day, four more blocks, in Orissa and Jharkhand, were allotted to companies that included some with a Chhattisgarh connection.
While the BJP has blamed the UPA for allocation of coal blocks, the Raman Singh government not only wrote letters opposing auctions but also pitched in for some companies. Of the 57 coal blocks given to private companies and now under the CAG scanner, 13 are in Chhattisgarh and several of these 13 were allocated to companies that had no industrial base in the state and are yet to begin production.
State audit
Months before the current “Coalgate” controversy, the Chhattisgarh accountant general (who works under the CAG) had termed Raman Singh, who also held the mining portfolio, guilty for allocating some coal blocks at throwaway price to a company, causing the state a loss of Rs 1,052 crore. The allocations mentioned in the state auditor’s report, which was tabled in the Assembly in April, were not covered under the current CAG report that deals only with blocks allocated to private companies through a Central screening committee.
The company that was allotted the blocks mentioned by the accountant general was SMS Infrastructure Ltd, belonging to Nagpur-based BJP Rajya Sabha MP Ajay S Sancheti, close to party president Nitin Gadkari.
The report said the Centre allocated two coal blocks in Bhatgaon-II and Bhatgaon-II Extension to the Chhattisgarh Mineral Development Corporation in July 2007. The corporation invited tenders for commercial use but only one company was considered technically eligible for Bhatgaon–II.
