Parliament of India

Parliament of India

22 August 2012. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said that it was investigating possible corruption in the under priced sale of concessions to private companies. The affair dubbed as ‘Coalgate’ had caused an uproar in the parliament paralysing it for the second day in a raw. The State auditor has said that this may have cost $33 billion in lost revenue to the exchequer. CBI did not say whether it had uncovered any irregularities. CBI said that it would submit its findings by 1 September 2012 to the Central Vigilance Commission, the government’s apex anti-graft body. The opposition parties demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who was the minister for coat at the time the coal allocations were made. Singh has denied any wrong doing and promised to resign if the allegations were found to be true. Opposition is taking advantage of the situation as Congress was involved in a series of corruption scandals in the past and the economic progress has been derailed. People are blaming Sing for not doing enough to keep the economy going. Some state elections are due in the next few months and the general election is due by 2014. India relies on coal for about two-thirds of its power requirements. India has abundant supply of coal. The coal industry mired so much in corruption that power companies are looking for overseas supplies from countries that have much less coal resources than India.