Coalgate: Govt under fire over missing files

The R ajya Sabha was rocked on Monday with the Opposition trying to corner the go vernment citing t he media r eports of the cr ucial files r elating t o allocation of the coal blocks to private par ties bet ween 2006 and 2009, have gone missing, w hile BJP spokesman Ravi Shan kar Prasad la ter sought the Prime Minis ter’s explanation since he wa s holding additional charge of the coal ministry at that time.

Asserting tha t t he disappearance of the fil es containing r ecommendations of the Cong ress leaders for allocation of the coal mines as also the letters from the Prime Minister’s Office forwarding these r ecommendations raises serious doubts of “conspirac y and collusion,” Prasad said Dr Manmohan Singh can ’t escape his accountability.

The fil es went missi ng when the CBI is engaged in monitoring cor ruption in allocation of the coal mines as “the best wa y to fr ustrate criminal trial” of the guilty, t he BJP leader t old, while asser ting tha t the government w on’t esca pe with suc h dir ty tri cks a s the Supr eme Cour t monitoring t he i nvestig ation will not al low suc h sa botage.

In t he Rajy a Sa bha, the Opposition insisted that the crucial files of the co al ministry ha ve been r emoved in a “conspiracy” to save the Prime Minist er in the multi -crore c oalscam. Minister of Sta te f or P arliamentary Af fairs Rajee v Shukla assur ed the House that Co al Minister Sriprakash J aiswal wi ll make a statement on the issue but gave no time frame.

The issue wa s raised b y Dharmendra Pradh an of BJP during the Zer o Hour. “This is a v ery seri ous issue...Nothing can be mor e condemnable. This is a conspiracy...It i s an a ttempt to save t he P rime Mi nister,” he said, w ondering if the coal de partment had a hand in mi ssing of files to brush under the car pet i rregularities by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who earlier held the Coal portfolio.