Congress seeks JPC probe into Gujarat’s KG gas fiasco
06 Apr 2016
Seeking a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the Gujarat government's investment in a Krishna-Godavari Basin gas block, the Congress on Tuesday targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi over a report submitted by Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) suggesting the project was a ''waste of public money.''
Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma said the CAG had estimated the loss at Rs20,000 crore and squarely blamed Prime Minister Modi since the money was invested when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat between 2011 and 2014.
''The Prime Minister is not above the law and Rs20,000 crore cannot be squandered. We demand a JPC probe,'' Sharma, a former union minister, said.
The CAG report was submitted in the Gujarat assembly last week. It punched holes at the working of the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC), saying there were no signs of gas production in the KG block even a decade after Modi had declared that the Corporation had found gas there.
The government auditor also said future prospects of the block are'' wrapped in uncertainty,'' said Sharma.
''Then Chief Minister Modi said 20 million cubic feet of gas was discovered in KG basin, worth $50 billion. Films were shown and highly publicised in and around India and the world. Investors were called in and two companies were formed. As per the CAG report the companies were inept. This resulted in a massive loss to Gujarat and its treasury and the state petroleum corporation,'' Sharma said.
