Guj: Cong alleges coal scam of Rs 6,000 cr in last 14 years
New Delhi: Just a few days after the expose of one of the biggest banking frauds, Gujarat has hit the headlines again. This time, the BJP-ruled state is in limelight for an alleged coal scam of Rs 6,000 crore.
Holding Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was the then Chief Minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014, the Congress on Wednesday alleged that coal meant for Small and Medium Industries was sold to industries of other states.
"In the last 14 years, instead of giving coal to the small and medium level industries of the state, agencies of the Gujarat government have committed a scam of Rs 6,000 crore by selling it to the industries of other states at a higher price. Coal extracted from various coal mines of Coal India did not reach the industries for which it was extracted," said Gourav Vallabh – the party's spokesperson.
While addressing a press conference, Vallabh also raised questions, whether it was a coincidence that three chief ministers — Narendra Modi (CM of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014) was also holding the charge of Industry, Mines and Minerals Department from December 2007 to December 2012), Vijay Rupani (August 2016 to September 2021) and Bhupendra Patel (September 2021 till date) — kept the Industry, Mines and Minerals Department with them. Congress has demanded a time-bound investigation under the sitting judge of the Supreme Court and the panel should probe the involvement of all the four CMs of Gujarat from 2008 to date in this Rs 6,000 crore scam.
The Congress leader also asked central agencies such as ED, Income Tax, etc to register a case in this regard as there is a possibility of tax evasion by the agencies involved in the scam.
"In the last 14 years, 60 lakh tonnes of coal have been sent from the mines of Coal India in the name of traders and small industries of Gujarat. Its average price is Rs 1,800 crore at Rs 3,000 per tonne, but instead of selling it to traders and industries, it has been sold in other states at a price of Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000/tonne," he said.
The Congress leader, who is an economist, further said, "The UPA government had formulated a policy in 2007 to provide good quality coal at affordable rates to the small industries across the country. Under this policy, coal was extracted every month from the West Coal Field and South-East Coal Field of Coal India for Small and Medium Industries of Gujarat."
"The Gujarat government had to send all the information, including the list of beneficiary industries of coal, the quantity of coal required, from which agency the coal will be sent to Coal India. Along with this, the Gujarat government also has to send a list of State Nominated Agency (SNA). SNA means the agency declared by the state government, which is authorised to take coal from Coal India to the state's beneficiaries, small scale industries, small traders," he explained.
"The information sent to Coal India by the Gujarat government turned out to be false. The industries in the name of which coal was extracted from Coal India in the documents did not reach those industries," he alleged.
