Another Major Scam

The CAG draft report that nails the connivance between Government agencies and Reliance Industries Ltd. leading to huge losses to the Government exchequer is yet another example of the power of corporates in the UPA Government to subvert rules and regulations in their favour.

The CAG has noted that the former Director-General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) permitted Reliance to inflate its “development costs” on the gas extraction in the D6 block of KG basin from 2.47 billion dollars to a whopping 8.84 billion dollars. This money taken by RIL affected the revenues of the Government. Government should prosecute the former DGH without any delay.

The Government’s connivance with RIL has a direct impact on the aam aadmi because increased claims of development cost get reflected in the price of gas given to consumers and also affect the prices of fertilizer and power. On this issue as well as on the inflated development cost issue, CPI(M) MPs have been raising the matter in Parliament. Letters have been written to the Prime Minister to institute an independent enquiry into the complaint of artificial jacking up of the capital expenditure by RIL for D6 KG Basin and its hasty approval by the concerned authority to find out the actual cost before gas price is fixed.

But the Polit Bureau regrets to note that in a repeat of the 2-G scam, the Prime Minister’s silence on the issue, other than mere acknowledgement of letters from Members of Parliament has again exposed the UPA Government’s acquiescence to corporate manipulation. The PB demands a statement from the PM on this issue as it involves a higher price for energy resource like natural gas that is used for power and fertilizer industries and has a direct bearing on the interests of the common man.