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Fresh book blow to PM
Ex- Coal Secy says Manmohan couldn’t control ministers
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 14
Within days of Sanjaya Baru, former media adviser to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, kicking up a political storm with his memoir, former Coal Secretary PC Parakh has come out with a book which is bound to further embarrass the Congress leadership in this election season.

In the book, ‘Crusader or Conspirator? Coalgate and Other Truths,’ the author claims Manmohan Singh was heading a government in which he had little political authority. He criticised the PM for his role in blocking transparency and favouring some private bidders in the allocation of coal blocks that caused a loss of Rs 1.86 lakh crore to the national exchequer.

The 300-page book was released today by former Supreme Court judge Justice GS Singhvi at a function, which was attended by former Cabinet Secretary TSR Subramanian and many other senior retired bureaucrats.

“My book is essentially about degradation in our political system and the civil service…over a period of time, it has become difficult for civil servants to work honestly,” Parakh said. He said the multi-crore scam could have been avoided had the PM asserted in pushing reforms, including open bidding for coal block allocations.

Parakh, who retired from service in 2005 and against whom the CBI has registered a case in coal block allocation, also accuses the investigative agency of ‘witch-hunt’.

The book lists details and copies of the letters Parakh wrote to various government functionaries and senior officials in the Andhra Pradesh government as the coal secretary about the biggest recorded scam in the history of India. He says the PM was unable to prevent his junior ministers from blocking a move towards a more transparent system of bidding for coal blocks. “After the PM approved open bidding in 2004, letters poured in opposing the move. A few ministers of state tried to scuttle the proposal, but the PM remained silent on their repeated attempts to stall open bidding,” the book says.

Will comment after reading the book: Cong
We will analyse the book and its contents in full before commenting on it. It must be remembered that between 1993 and 2011, 206 coal blocks were allocated. The BJP in its tenure allocated 41 on a first-come-first-served basis. When the UPA-1 came, the PM initiated the process of making coal block allocations transparent by way of auction.
— Randeep Surjewala, congress spokesman

After the PM approved open bidding in 2004, letters poured in opposing the move. A few ministers of state tried to scuttle the proposal, but the PM remained silent on their repeated attempts to stall open bidding.
—PC Parakh in his book