Cong demands judicial probe into GPSC scam

A delegation of Gujarat Congress leaders today met President Pranab Mukherjee and sought a judicial probe into the alleged Rs 19,760 crore scam in Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation when Narendra Modi was chief minister of the state.
"Given that the political leadership has a clear conflict of interest in allowing the facts to be brought in the public domain, we urge you to kindly do justice to this matter of national importance by immediately directing an independent judicial investigation and uphold the rule of law," Gujarat Congress leaders told the President in a memorandum.
The delegation included Political Secretary to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Ahmed Patel, Gujarat PCC chief Bharatsinh Solanki and CLP leader Shankersinh Vaghela as also party MLAs from the state.

According to the memorandum, the alleged scam took place through "squandering of public money, deliberate bleeding of a public sector company, malicious enrichment of private parties and a blatant attempt to suppress truth by intentional mismanagement" in the affairs of the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation Ltd (GSPC).
Narrating the sequence of events, it said in June 2005, the then Gujarat Chief Minister announced that GSPC has discovered India's largest gas reserves in the Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin.
He also claimed that the gas reserves were 20 trillion cubic feet and worth Rs 2,20,000 crore at that time.

"This was more than the total gas produced in all of India at that time. He announced that GSPC will spend Rs 1,500 crore and begin commercial production in 2007," it said.

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), in its report for the year 2014-15, said that GSPC invested Rs 19,576 crore of public money in KG basin gas blocks upto March 2015, without any assessment of the risk involved, construction technology, estimate of natural gas reserves or gas pricing.
"Resultantly, till today, there is 'no commercial production or resultant commercial gain' of gas out of the announced gas yield of 20 trillion cubic feet.
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Reacting to the Congress delegation's meeting with the President, Gujarat Finance Minister Saurabh Patel, who also handles the petrochemicals portfolio, said it was an attempt to divert people's attention from the AugustaWestland scam.

In a statement issued here this evening, Patel said, "It is unfortunate and highly mischievous that Congress party is trying to divert the attention of people from the AugustaWestland helicopter scandal.
"For their selfish ends, Congress is trying to tarnish the image of a Gujarat PSU (GSPC), which has been built over last 40 years," he said.
GSPC supplies piped natural gas to more than 10 lakh families, providing them clean fuel, he said.
The PSU is carrying out exploration in the KG basin which is a very difficult block for oil and gas extraction, and after the exploration is complete, production will start in the near future, he said.

"If the country has to achieve energy security, our companies/PSUs have to invest in these critical sectors and have patience to wait for success. Such false allegations by a major political party demoralises the company and its officials," the minister alleged.
GSPC had issued a tender for construction of platform rigs in KG basin, awarded the contract to the lowest bidder, and cancelled it later when the contractor failed to perform satisfactorily and awarded it to the second lowest bidder, Patel said.