By IANS,
New Delhi : The government Friday said its official auditor’s report on the allocation of coal blocks in which it has indicated a Rs.1.85 lakh crore ($37 billion) loss to the exchequer is flawed.
“As long as coal remain in mother earth there is no loss…this presumptive loss is flawed,” Finance Minister P Chidambaram said at a joint press conference here with Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal.
Chidambaram said there has been hardly any mining of coal from the allocated blocks which are taken into consideration by the auditor.
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) last week revealed that the lack of transparency in the allocation of coal blocks to private players resulted in the loss of a whopping Rs.1.85 lakh crore ($37 billion) to the exchequer.
Jaiswal said the government didn’t agree with the CAG report.
“We don’t agree with the CAG report,” Jaiswal said.
Jaiswal said that he had asked the CAG to consult coal ministry official before preparing the final report. “But the CAG did not consult our officials,” he said.