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Ex-CAG's stand vindicated?
Indian metal and cement companies have bid aggressively for coal blocks in the country\'s first auction to sell mines - of the 19 blocks currently on offer, 14 have already sold for nearly Rs 80,000 crore. In 2012, in a body blow to the Congress-led government, the national auditor (CAG) said the lack of a transparent bidding process in mining rights had cost the country a swindle worth Rs 1.86 lakh crore.
Aggressive bidding suggests rampant coal scam
New Delhi: Indian metal and cement companies have bid aggressively for coal blocks in the country's first auction to sell mines - of the 19 blocks currently on offer, 14 have already sold for nearly Rs 80,000 crore. In 2012, in a body blow to the Congress-led government, the national auditor (CAG) said the lack of a transparent bidding process in mining rights had cost the country a swindle worth Rs 1.86 lakh crore. The bids so far suggest the sales proceeds will zip well past that estimate.
"Certainly the CAG's position has been vindicated. Institutions of the country are doing their best," said Union Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The auction comes after the Supreme Court last year ordered the cancellation of nearly 200 mining licenses issued by successive governments since 1993. The government had said it expects to raise Rs 15 lakh crore from the new bidding process. The second round of auctions will include 43 blocks from Feb 25 to March 5.
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Companies who are bidding for the licenses want to cut imports and slash their dependence on inefficient government monopoly, Coal India Ltd. The companies are allowed to bid for enough coal to fuel a 50 per cent expansion of their current metal or cement capacity. The companies have declined to comment on the auctions till the process is complete.
Most of the winning bids so far have been higher than analysts' expectations, based on the benchmark price of state-run Coal India. Coal India's prices are set according to cost rather than based on supply and demand in the market and its costs are high at Rs 1,118 per tonne, more than half of which comes from employee and social costs. For the private companies, mining costs are likely to be between Rs 400 and 600 per tonne, according to some analysts.
CBI completes probe in Hindalco case
New Delhi: The CBI on Thursday filed its final probe report in a coal block allocation case allegedly involving former Coal Secretary P C Parakh, Hindalco and others before the special court which will consider it on March 11. Senior public prosecutor V K Sharma told the court that the agency had completed the investigation and one more witness has been examined during the course of probe and they are filing his statement in a sealed cover. "Further investigation is complete. We have further examined one more witness. We are filing his statement in a sealed cover. Our final investigation is over now," Sharma told Special CBI Judge Bharat Parashar.
