New Delhi, Aug 27 (IANS) The CPI-M Monday asked the government to cancel all the coal blocks allocation found faulty by the official auditor and said they may be auctioned.
CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury also refuted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s claim that states like West Bengal had wanted the coal blocks to be allotted and not auctioned.
All the allocations made to private players since the Congress took power in 2004 should be cancelled, the Marxist leader told the media here.
“An auction may be done,” he added.
He said none of the reasons advanced by the prime minister Monday explained why no transparent and competitive bidding process was introduced in the coal sector from June 2004 till August this year.
He said the West Bengal government, which was ruled by the Left until last year, had never opposed auction of coal blocks but only insisted that the state’s interests should not be bartered away.
Yechury disputed the government claim that no economic loss had taken place because of the coal blocks allocation to the private players.
He said a similar argument was taken by the government when the second generation spectrum saga erupted. Subsequently, however, the government had to axe all licenses and go for fresh bidding.
