New Delhi:
A report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India alleged financial irregularities worth thousands of crores by the Narendra Modi government. The report has indicted the state-owned Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC), whose flawed operations since 2009 has caused a loss of Rs 5,000 crore.
Its 'undue favours' includes crores of giveaways to corporate giants including Gautam Adani's Adani Energy, the Essar Group run by the Ruias and Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industdani Groupries.
The CAG report says that GSPC gave 71 crores worth benefits to Adani Energy by selling it gas at a price lower than the cost. It also gave Rs 12.02 crore to Essar Steel by waiving off capacity charges. Also Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries installed a platform in GPSC'S Krishna-Godavari (KG) Block, which makes GSPC responsible for the structure for life.
The largest chunk of losses however comes from GPSC's own faulty operations in the KG Basin, where it bid for exploration without properly estimating financial and technical costs, which finally shot up from an estimated $102.23 million to $1.302 billion.
"The BJP tolerates Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as he feeds the party's central leadership by indulging in corruption," leader of the opposition in Gujarat assembly Shakti Sinh Gohil told reporters here.
Mr Gohil also alleged that the Modi government chose to table the report on the last day of the Assembly; so that the it can't be raised inside the House. The entire Opposition was suspended two days back, and hence, it had to raise the issue outside the Assembly.
"It is a loot of the treasury," said Mr Gohil adding that the state Congress would take the issue of uninterrupted corruption during Mr's Modi rule in the past decade among the masses.
Gujarat assembly polls are slated for November 2012.