Thaindian News

New Delhi, Aug 31 (IANS) Denying allegations of impropriety and nepotism in coal block allocation, union minister Subodh Kant Sahay said Friday that he never sought favours for his brother’s firm SKS Ispat and Power Limited.

“I am neither a shareholder nor a director of the company. Sudhir Sahay (brother) is also completely independent as far as his professional and business status is concerned,” Sahay said.

Addressing the media following allegations that the firm SKS Ispat was allocated a coal block a day after he wrote a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Sahay said that the blocks had already been allocated when he wrote a letter to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

“The Fatehpur coal block was already allocated to SKS Ispat and Prakash Industries much prior to my letter to the PMO,” Sahay said.

“SKS does not stand for Subodh Kant Sahay, but Shri Krishna Structures,” he added.

The CAG had earlier this month said in its report that lack of transparency in the allocation of coal blocks to private players resulted in a loss of Rs.1.86 lakh crore to the exchequer as on March 11 last year.

Sahay alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was maligning him over the coal blocks allocation.

“The BJP is known to frame lies and that’s the reason they are not letting the parliament function. The allegations against me are a bunch of lies,” Sahay said.

According to Sahay, the application for allotment of Fatehpur coal block was written by SKS Ispat and Power Limited January 2007.

The screening committee decided to allocate Fatehpur coal block jointly to SKS Ispat and Prakash Industries. The letter was issued to both companies in November 2007.

“My letter was written to the prime minister regarding two coal blocks for steel plants in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand Feb 5, 2008,” Sahay added.