Thirty-five of the 77 Union ministers have failed to file annual details of their assets and liabilities before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh even over a month after the passage of the deadline.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may intervene in the discussion on several files pertaining to coal block allocations going missing, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajeev Shukla said on Thursday.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Murli Manohar Joshi, shifted to Kanpur Lok Sabha seat from Varanasi to accommodate Narendra Modi, on Friday made a veiled attack on sitting Congress MP and Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal, saying he never imagined that one day he would have to fight elections from "constituency of people whose names cropped up in coal gate scam."
The government on Friday said the auction of explored coal blocks may take place either by December or the beginning of the next year.
The coal ministry submitted to the Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday a detailed report on the missing files pertaining to coal block allocations, said an official.
The Central Vigilance Commission has convened a meeting with Central Bureau of Investigation Director Ranjit Sinha to discuss the missing files with details of coal block allocations.
Amid strong opposition from CIL workers union to the proposed stake sale in the company, Finance Minister P Chidambaram has said the disinvestment proceeds of about Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) from the coal behemoth will be invested in public sector banks.
Committed to keep fiscal deficit under check, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has convened a high-level meeting on Tuesday to push forward the disinvestment programme with a view to achieve the budgetary target of Rs 40,000 crore (Rs 400 billion) in the current fiscal.
Main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday once again targeted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Rajya Sabha on missing files pertaining to coal mines allocation saying the scam is "monumental" and demanded that he clarify on it.
Union Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal on Saturday admitted that some files related to the coal block allocation scam are missing.
The government on Friday told the Rajya Sabha that seven files, 173 applications and nine other documents pertaining to coal block allocations were not traceable and efforts were on to locate them
The government on Monday came under sharp attack on the issue of crucial files of Coal ministry going missing, with the Opposition alleging that it was a conspiracy to save Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the coal block allocation scam and demanding an impartial probe into it.
Corporate Affairs Minister Sachin Pilot intoned, "Recent incidents will certainly dampen business confidence and investment sentiment, both domestic and foreign; and perhaps also negatively affect decision making by bureaucrats and policy makers."
The economy can't grow without increasing electrification, which requires more power plants, and given coal is the cheapest form of fuel and is abundant, it makes sense that India is looking to boost the use of the fuel.
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