The government has lost over Rs 10.7 lakhs crore by not auctioning coal blocks, according to a report in the Times of India. The report, based on a comptroller and auditor general report on the sale of coal blocks, says that the government extended “undue benefits” to both private sector and public sector companies in the power and steel sectors. Some cement companies also figure in its list.

According to the 110-page CAG report titled ’Performance Audit of Coal Block Allocations’, the government lost the money by allotting nearly 155 coal acreages without an auction process. The CAG has said in the report that its Rs 10.7 lakh crore estimate is a conservative figure as it has used the price of the lowest grade coal in calculating it. The report is expected to be table in Parliament after the union budget is passed.  According to the apex auditor, the total coal in these blocks stands at 33,169 million tonnes which, according to the ToI report, is enough generate 150,000 megawatt of power for 50 years.

Of the total windfall to the companies, rs 4.79 lakg crore went to the private ones while central and state government utilities got Rs 5.88 lakh crore. Most PSUs, however, employ private miners to extract coal — thus, the allocation may have benefited the private sector more than the CAG estimates in its report.

Some of the major private sector gainers are Tata Group, the Jindals, Electro Steel Castings ltd., Anil Aggarwal group, Essar Group, arcelor Mittal, lanco Group, Adani group, Aditya Birla Group while the largets public sector gainer was national thermal power corporation (NTPC).

Parliament adjourned as ruckus erupts over coal losses

Both houses of parliament were adjourned by noon on Thursday after the opposition mounted an attack on the government over the CAG report of losses from the allocation of coal in between 2004 and 2009.