While the Bharatiya Janata Party has stepped up its attack against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh based on the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report on coal allocation, the CPI(M) has decided to put the Government in the dock over the other two reports — on the Ultra Mega Power Projects (UMPP) and on implementation of public-private-partnership for the Delhi International Airport Ltd.
The CPI(M) said the “sordid story of crony capitalism” has become a “hallmark” of the UPA-II Government. Sources in the party indicated that the party’s attempt is to “expose” the alleged nexus between corporations and the UPA Government during the Monsoon session of Parliament.
Condemning the stand taken by the Government that the CAG has stepped beyond its mandate, the politburo of the CPI(M) said all those responsible for this fleecing of public funds should be brought to book and accountability fixed.
The party asked the Centre to take all measures to retrieve the losses in violation of statutory and other agreed provisions.
In an attempt to drag the Prime Minister into the DIAL controversy too, the CPI (M) said Members of Parliament belonging to the party had brought his attention to the irregularities in DIAL almost a year back. “But no attempt was made by the Government to reverse this blatant act of wrongdoing,” the party said.
The CPI (M) politburo said the CAG report brought out two major areas of wrongdoing, which was facilitated by the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the Airport Authority of India (AAI). The party said the Government allowed the DIAL to exploit 240 acres of land with a potential revenue Rs 163,557 crore over 58 years for a paltry sum. Also, post-bid, post-contractual benefits showed that the Government violated the tender process for the benefit of the private partner.
The party added that by allowing DIAL to collect development fees of Rs 3,415.35 crore, the Government further violated the Operation Management and Development Agreement (OMDA), AAI Act and the AERA Act.
On the UMPP, the party said the CAG report clearly pinpoints that the overall financial largesse to Reliance Power Ltd due to this act of commission amounts to Rs 29,000 crore. “The Government, which is tight-fisted about spending on food and nutrition security of the people, takes such a ‘couldn’t care less’ attitude over such huge losses to the public exchequer while benefiting corporates,” the CPI(M) politburo said in a statement.