After rocking the UPA government a little more than a year ago by exposing the 2G spectrum scam, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has exposed yet another loophole in the government. Its report says that the government loss Rs 10.67 lakh crore by not auctioning coal blocks between 2004 and 2009.
According to a report by the Times of India, the government loss a whopping Rs 10.67 lakh by allotting 155 coalfields to commercial entities without auctioning between 2004 and 2009.
The 110-page draft report says that both private entities and public utilities benefited from the scam. Rs 4.79 lakh crore is estimated to have gone to the private entities and Rs 5.88 lakh crore to the government utilities.
Big companies like Tata Group entities, Jindal Steel & Power Ltd, Electro Steel Castings Ltd, the Anil Agarwal Group firms, Delhi-based Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd, Jayaswal Neco, Nagpur-based Abhijeet Group and Aditya Birla Group companies are in the list of beneficiaries.
Meanwhile, both Houses of Parliament were adjourned on Thursday morning following the CAG's report. The BJP demanded answer from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as he held the coal portfolio when the scam took place.
