By IANS,
New Delhi : Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath Wednesday said the Congress-led UPA government and the country’s official auditor were on the “same page” on the issue of allocation of coal blocks that has so far disrupted proceedings in parliament for 11 consecutive day.
Responding to reporters who asked him about the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report on coal blocks allocations that suggested a presumptive loss of Rs.1.86 lakh crore ($37 billion), he said, “We are on the same page”.
The minister was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a CAG-sponsored seminar on ‘Performance Reporting for Urban Local Bodies in India’.
“I did say that between the audited entity and CAG, there has to be a continuous dialogue,” he said, adding that the role of the official auditor was an important one in a democracy.
Kamal Nath noted that the CAG report on the subject is now before parliament and only the public accounts committee was competent to comment on its content.
“The CAG reports to the parliament. It will be highly improper for me to comment on what the parliament is looking at. At the moment it is the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) which will comment on the contents of the report,” he said.
The minister refused to comment on the ‘zero loss’ theories on the coal blocks allocation episode.
The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) disrupted proceedings in parliament for the 11th consecutive day Wednesday over the coal blocks allocation issue.