After the Central screening committee that cleared coal block allocations to private entities,several state governments now face the audit scanner for their joint ventures in coal mining. State audit wings are currently studying the terms of the joint ventures that state public sector units have entered into. And many of these PSUs are in opposition-ruled states. A reference to PSUs had been made in CAGs draft audit report,which pegged the notional loss to the exchequer at Rs 3,37,471 crore on account of the benefit accrued to government companies. This was not,however,included in the final CAG report that was tabled in Parliament. Of the state PSUs that were given 60 blocks between them,a majority lacked any experience in mining. According to sources,the CAG dropped the mention of PSUs in the recently tabled audit as it was time-consuming. Said a senior CAG official,We have asked the state accountant generals to look into these aspects. Some of the memorandums of understanding signed with private players might not be in the interest of the state exchequer; most of the benefits goes to the private operators. The sources said that in at least two joint ventures,the profit share of the PSU was found as low as 26 per cent. The prime role of the companies is to develop the coal blocks. In its report tabled in Parliament,the CAG estimated that Rs 1.86 trillion would have been the gain to the exchequer had the blocks been allotted through competitive bidding rather than being allocated through a screening committee. According to the sources,if the same formula were to be used on the total allocations to PSUs,including those under the Union government,the loss would have worked out to Rs 5,13,703.30 crore.
