Madhu Koda and coal blocks

Madhu Koda and coal blocks

The irony could not have gone unnoticed. Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda, who is now under a cloud for alleged irregularities in the coal block allocation scam, asked a question in the Lok Sabha seeking to know whether the government had formulated any policy for providing coal linkages to small- and medium-scale coal-based industries. Koda also wanted to know about the quantity of fuel allocated to Jharkhand in the last three years. Koda, an MP now, is currently in jail in a money laundering case and sometimes attends Parliament while in custody. Just a few days ago, the CBI raided the residence of one Vijay Joshi, owner of Vini Iron and Steel Udyog Ltd, in connection with the coal block allocations. Joshi is widely believed to be a shadow for Koda.

Railways to foot hefty bill

Saddled with a severe cash-crunch, Indian Railways just got itself another hefty bill. The recent Cabinet decision to allow the transfer of equity owned by the West Bengal government in Kolkata's East-West Metro corridor to the Railways will mean that the national transporter will have to pay the state Rs 146.50 crore. But given its current state of finances, how it pays this amount to the state will be interesting to see. It was Mamata Banerjee who, as Railways Minister, had insisted that the Railways take control of the project which was a joint venture between the state government and the union Urban Development Ministry.

Not so transparent

India Against Corruption may have taken on the government on alleged financial irregularities but its own audit seems stuck in a time warp. The anti-corruption outfit has not made its audit reports beyond September 2011 public. With the exception of the donations received during the last Jantar Mantar fast, even the list of donors on its website is only for 2011. Or would they have us believe that they have lost their famed public connect so drastically in the last one year that nobody is donating for the cause any more?

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