Print Email to Friend| From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 9, Issue 40, Dated 06 Oct 2012

CURRENT AFFAIRS   COAL SCAM

Q&A Sriprakash Jaiswal, Union Coal Minister

‘I will resign if someone can prove that I allocated even one block’

UNION COAL MINISTER Sriprakash Jaiswal tells Ashish Khetan that he hopes to start the policy of auctioning coal blocks within a month

Sriprakash Jaiswal Photo: Shailendra Pandey ALSO READ Coal Spill ‘In the coal scam, both the BJP and the Congress have been in cahoots’ Will the seemingly empty noise over the coal scam force answers in the long run? If yes, the noise is worthwhile

EXCERPTS FROM AN INTERVIEW

Your complaint to the CVC asking for investigation into coal block allocations from 1993 to 2004 is being called the politics of revenge.
In its investigation into the coal blocks allocated between 2006-2009, the CVC found several irregularities and lodged FIRs. Many MPs felt that if so many irregularities could be found in these allocations, the investigation should then be extended to cover allocations from 1993 as well. That is why I recommended their letter.

Wouldn’t it be better if your Ministry did an inquiry based on that complaint because you already have all the files?
My ministry set up the Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG), which is investigating the performance of all coal blocks allocated between 1993-2009. All blocks that did not start work have been sent show-cause notices. The IMG is carrying the investigation forward based on the responses to these notices.

Has the IMG found any coal block allocation dating prior to 2004 with poor performance?
Yes. Twenty-five such blocks were deallocated by the Coal Ministry a year ago on the basis of non-performance.

What was the government waiting for between 2004- 2012? Why is the government taking up this issue now?
We couldn’t have investigated all allocations at once. Once we knew there were irregularities, we decided to investigate allocations from 1993.

The gap between demand and supply increased only after 2004, when you had 10 blocks for allocation against 150 applications. The situation was very different between 1993-2004.
Yes, there was lesser competition in 1993, but you can’t say there was no gap in demand and supply even then.

A news report says that the coal secretary asked you whether allocations should be stopped until competitive bidding is done, and that you sat on the file for seven months.
That report is false. I sent a three-page response to it, detailing the reasons for every delay in processing the file, not a line of which was published. I could give you a copy of the response.

But you continued to allocate blocks even after you took over as coal minister.
Not one coal block was allocated by me. I have said that if someone can prove that I have allocated even one block, I will resign from politics. No one has taken me up on that challenge.

You said that the Screening Committee had already cleared the allocations.
The Screening Committee had already cleared them and the competent authority had approved them. With elections approaching and the model code of conduct in place, no allocation letters could be issued. Once the new government came into power, there was no need for our approval, because the PM had already approved them.

You took over as minister in 2009 and the IMG was formed in 2012. What took so long?
When I took over as minister, I ordered a review of all coal block allocations. A review takes over a year to complete. You need a report from the Coal Mine Planning and Design Institute Ltd. Once the report came in, we sent show-cause notices based on it. It takes a few months for responses to those notices to come in. Only when the responses came in, could we set up the IMG.

So when will the policy of auctioning come into effect?
Immediately. We have asked CRISIL for their opinion, and they have asked for three more weeks to respond. I hope we can incorporate the suggestions made by CRISIL and the IMG and implement the policy within a month.

Are you going to accept the IMG’s recommendations and immediately begin deallocating coal blocks?
Yes. Thirteen private coal blocks have been deallocated. Fourteen have had their bank guarantees confiscated. One party has been asked to submit a guarantee because it was allocated the block before the system of bank guarantees was introduced.

Ashish Khetan is Editor, Investigations with Tehelka.
ashish.khetan@tehelka.com