Of coal mafia, a 'brainless' minister and prasadam

Ex-coal secretary Parakh's book Crusader or Conspirator reveals govt secrets

At a time when Manmohan Singh is winding up his decade-long tenure as prime minister, skeletons seem to be tumbling out of his government’s cupboard, revealing a full-fledged dispute between former coal secretary P C Parakh and Shibhu Soren, the two-time coal minister in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s first term.

According to documents made public by Parakh in his book, the prime minister was in complete know of the difference of opinion between the two. Parakh goes so far as to label some of Soren’s orders as against public opinion and the minister questions the secretary’s style of functioning.

From the appointment of a full-time chairman for Coal India Ltd to introduction of bidding for allocation of coal blocks and conducting e-auction, Parakh and Soren do not seem to agree on anything. Soren wrote a five-page letter to Singh in February 2005, alleging malafide intentions on the part of Parakh and sought his removal for his closeness to Chandrababu Naidu and “not caring for an Adivasi minister”.

Soren goes on to say the secretary (Parakh) considers him as “untouchable and brainless” in the context of providing information to him. Replying to Soren’s allegations in a letter to the then cabinet secretary B K Chaturvedi, Parakh said coal mafia was not outside the government and existed within the coal ministry, coal companies, trade unions, state administrations and local political leadership.

While Soren seemed to have opposed e-auction of coal, Parakh defended his action by alleging there was large-scale generation of black money through patronage of coal mafia in the current system of coal marketing, but the minister was standing in the way of bringing transparency in marketing operations instead of supporting the efforts of the Coal India chairman & managing director.

Parakh also alleged Soren asked for minutes and agenda of the meeting of the screening committee that decided on allocation of captive coal blocks. “Approval of agenda notes and minutes by ministers does not serve any useful purpose. In fact, it is a strange request that the minutes of the meetings to which minister is not a party should be approved by him,” Parakh said in his letter to Chaturvedi.

The book indicates Parakh supported the appointment of Shashi Kumar as CIL chairman, while Soren was against it. Kumar was appointed the chairman in the intervening period between Soren’s resignation and reinduction as coal minister. “The process of selection was completed by the time Soren was reinducted in the Cabinet. I could not have had premonition about resignation and reinduction of Soren to conspire and get Shashi Kumar selected,” Parakh writes in his defence.

Parakh ruffled feathers not just with Soren but also Dasari Narayan Rao, the then minister of state for coal, and some members of Parliament. At one point, after a brush with Dharmendra Pradhan, a member of Parliament, during a meeting of parliamentary consultative committee, Parakh even gave a notice for voluntary retirement and proceeded on earned leave in August 2005.

Earlier, C S Dubey, another member of Parliament, had made allegations against Parakh. Those, along with Soren’s complaints, were part of an inquiry against the secretary. The book also shows how his early stint in public service as collector and district magistrate of Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh, too, was filled with disputes with political leaders.

But the former secretary, who has a CBI case registered against him, has summed up — rather diplomatically — by saying both Soren and Rao were courteous to him, despite differences. Rao, in fact, often sent prasadam and homemade pickles and chutneys and also organised a farewell lunch for him along with gifts for both Parakh and his wife. Even Dubey, the MP with whom he had a running dispute, contributed Rs 5 lakh from Local Area Development Fund when Parakh organised a camp to provide artificial limbs at Dhanbad.