Indian Premier Manmohan Singh's office Saturday denied allegations of irregularities in coal mine allocations and rejected the demand by anti-corruption activists for a probe into the matter. Anti-graft campaigners led by Anna Hazare recently demanded that Singh and 14 of his cabinet ministers should face investigations after a draft report by the government auditor said India had lost 210 billion dollars in coal asset sales.
But the auditor had said the leaked draft was "exceedingly misleading." V Narayansamy, a minister in the prime minister's office, in a letter to Hazare, said the allegations seemed to be based on the leaked draft and other media reports and no evidence had been provided to substantiate the allegations. Narayansamy said the coal mines were allocated in a transparent manner, keeping public interest in mind.
"Keeping in mind that sufficient legal and constitutional mechanisms are available to examine the issues raised by you, your demand (for a special investigation team) cannot be accepted," Narayansamy said in the letter released Saturday. The draft report, leaked in March, said the government extended "undue benefits" by allocating 155 coal fields to 100 private and government firms between 2004 and 2010.
However the auditor said the "details brought out were observations which are under discussion at a very preliminary stage." Hazare had spearheaded protests last year demanding the creation of an anti-graft ombudsman position to crack down on corrupt government officials. Singh's government is mired in several corruption scandals and the anti-corruption movement has drawn widespread support.
"The letter seems to say that there is no corruption and all ministers are clean. People will not buy this," Hazare aide Manish Sisodia told reporters. "There is corruption in the government and local resources are being sold at throwaway prices."