New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday filed a preliminary enquiry in the coal blocks allocations since 1993. The central investigative agency will now study each and every allotment since 1993 and question the directors of companies and the then bureaucrats of Central and state government about the coal blocks.
The Coal Ministry is expected to provide all relevant data and list of officials and ministers involved in the process at all levels. Files and details of companies and officials who played a part in the allocation process will also be requisitioned during the enquiry.
Only after the preliminary enquiry is complete, will the CBI decide on proceeding further and taking up the probe formally.
The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) had on Monday asked the CBI to probe all coal block allocations since 1993 while forwarding a letter by Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal....
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04:58 PM, Sep 27, 2012
New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is in no mood to give up its fight on coal. Upping the ante on Sunday, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, said that the party was prepared for mid-term polls if the events led to it. Holding a press conference in the capital, Sushma said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was directly responsible for the coal blocks allocations...
04:01 PM, Sep 02, 2012
New Delhi: Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Friday said that the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) was merely an audit agency and not an investigative one and that it could merely present its findings to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and it was for Parliament to decide on them. Attacking the CAG for releasing its reports to the press, Digvijaya said, "I have never attacked any Constitutional authority...
11:29 AM, Aug 31, 2012
New Delhi: Hitting back at Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who on Tuesday condemned BJP leader Sushma Swaraj's choice of words at a press conference where she said Congress had gained "mota maal" or massive profits in the coal blocks allocations, BJP leaders said that she should first look within. "We don't need lessons from Sonia. She was the one to use the term 'maut ka saudagar' for Narendra Modi. Was...
12:22 PM, Aug 28, 2012
Bhopal: Anti-corruption activist Arvind Kejriwal will be in Bhopal on Tuesday to stage a sit-in protest outside Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's residence. A few India Against Corruption (IAC) members were lathicharged outside the CM's residence on Sunday when they protested there. The protest was a part of the rally called in by Kejriwal to protest against the government over coalgate. ...
11:35 AM, Aug 28, 2012
New Delhi: Continuing its criticism of the Opposition on its repeated obstruction of Parliament over the coal blocks allocations, the Congress on Tuesday said that its workers would go on the streets and expose the BJP. "The Congress workers will go to the people and tell them the truth about the BJP," said spokesperson Manish Tewari. He added, "2014 is still 22 months away. (There is ample time for the...
11:26 AM, Aug 28, 2012
New Delhi: The Opposition managed to stall Parliament for the second consecutive day on Wednesday, creating a furore over coal blocks allocations and demanding Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's resignation. While the Lok Sabha Speaker and the Rajya Sabha Chairperson appealed to the MPs to let the House function, the Opposition would have none of it. Shouting slogans and chanting 'PM must resign', the MPs rushed to the well of the...
02:28 PM, Aug 22, 2012
New Delhi: 2.02 pm: Lok Sabha adjourned for the day. 2.01 pm: Rajya Sabha adjourned till Wednesday. Debate continues in Lok Sabha. 2.00 pm: Parliament resumes, uproar continues. 1.25 pm: JDU leader Sharad Yadav says his personal opinion is that discussion on CAG report should take place in the House. "But I am bound by the NDA decision too," the BJP ally adds. 1.15 pm: Congress leader Harish Rawat says...
10:48 AM, Aug 22, 2012
Congress leader Pawan Kumar Bansal said that the BJP had skeletons in its own cupboard and that's why it was shying away from a proper discussion on the issue. ...
10:21 AM, Aug 22, 2012
After the fallout of the CAG report on coal block allocations, the government continues to be in a denial mode. ...
01:39 PM, Aug 19, 2012
The all-too-familiar political blame game has begun following the CAG reports that said that losses worth lakhs of crores of rupees were caused to the national exchequer by the Centre. ...
08:48 AM, Aug 18, 2012
New Delhi: Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and BJP member Sushma Swaraj said that the coal scam was the UPA's biggest yet. "The UPA is full of corruption. The PM is directly responsible for the scam. He cannot hide behind any argument now. No A Raja or Chidambaram can be used as shield like in the 2G spectrum scam case," she said. Leader of Opposition in the Rajya...
03:56 PM, Aug 17, 2012
New Delhi: Reliance Power on Friday reacted to the CAG report on UMPPs or Ultra Mega Power Projects that said that the company had benefited in the Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project, the country's first domestic, coal-based project. "CAG's observations don't factor in the looming coal crunch," it said, adding that it got surplus coal only via use of advance technology and that the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) ratified...
02:33 PM, Aug 17, 2012
New Delhi: The coalgate has once again embarrassed the UPA. A former coal secretary on Saturday hit out at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, saying he could have pushed for coal block allocations via bidding. Ex-coal secretary PC Parakh said that neither the industry nor the netas wanted to bid for coal blocks as they could get them for far cheaper through the existing screening process. Parakh said that he clearly...
09:26 PM, Jun 09, 2012
New Delhi: The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on Saturday wrote a strongly worded letter to Anna Hazare, giving a point-by-point rebuttal to all the charges made by Team Anna on coal blocks allocation. The letter said that the CAG report on coal allocations was not yet tabled in Parliament and the government will respond to it once it's tabled in the House. The letter further said that all the decisions...
08:08 PM, Jun 09, 2012
New Delhi: In a new twist in the coal allocations row, former coal secretary PC Parakh has revealed how his proposal for auction of coal blocks was thwarted by politicians and the industry alike. While not blaming Prime Minister Manmohan Singh fully for the allocations of coal blocks instead of auctioning them, Parakh, in an exclusive interview with CNN-IBN, said that the PM could have thrown his weight behind the...
04:48 PM, Jun 09, 2012
New Delhi: Team Anna member Kiran Bedi on Sunday said that the Lokpal, if made a law would create fear among wrongdoers like the way the "chopping of hands of thieves" does in UAE. Addressing protesters at the fast venue of Anna Hazare and yoga guru Ramdev, Bedi also asked people not to vote for those politicians who are opposed to Lokpal in the next elections. "There is no democracy...
03:49 PM, Jun 03, 2012
