BJP accuses UPA of being involved in “black gold scam”

New Delhi, July 07: BJP today accused the UPA government of being involved in a “black gold scam”, claiming that pay offs worth more than Rs 75,000 crore were made in allocation of coal blocks between 2006 and 2009.

Releasing a list of coal block allocations made between 2006 and 2009, BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said when a bill was introduced in 2006 to make the allocation process transparent, there was a “black gold rush” with several blocks being allocated.

“Ideally, the government should have stopped the allotment during this period but instead chose to allot blocks at frantic speed,” he claimed.

He said till 2006 around five blocks were allocated per annum to companies already involved in the business, the rate of allotments shot up to 20 to 22 per year between 2006 and 2009,” he said.

He hinted that many of the allottee companies were not even in the coal business. “The list is with you and you can find out who is in business and who is not…it is like 2G spectrum scam where builders were granted telecom licences,” he explained.

Dubbing it as a “black gold scam” in which natural deposits worth Rs 51 lakh crore were allotted “for free.”

“The alleged pay off is more than Rs 75,000 crore. More interesting aspect is that the Prime Minister himself was the Coal Minister during 2006-2009,” said the BJP spokesperson.

—-PTI—-