People's Democracy

On Coal Allocation Case

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) issued the following statement on October 18, 2013.

THE CBI has lodged an FIR against the chairman of the Hindalco and the former coal secretary in a coal allocation case. This is part of the ongoing investigations in the coal block allocation matter.

The CPI(M) has been demanding a thorough investigation in this case of allocating natural resources illegally to ensure  windfall profits to certain companies. Since this involved the period when the prime minister was in charge of the ministry of coal, this aspect also needs investigation.

It is shocking that a union minister, Anand Sharma, has come out in defence of a big industrialist, claiming he is innocent in the case. This is nothing but a blatant effort to influence the case and intimidate the CBI. This stand is also to justify the covert policy of privatising the coal industry which is the root cause for the corruption involved.

The Polit Bureau demands that the CBI proceed in the entire investigation and pursue the guilty without fear or favour.