Parakh set to reignite coal fire

Former coal secretary Prakash Chandra Parakh is gearing up to put up a strong fight against the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)'s allegations of criminal conspiracy in the coal block allocation scam, with the launch of his book, Crusaders or Conspirators - Coalgate and Other Truths, on Monday.

The former bureaucrat has gathered prominent faces linked with the anti-corruption wave such as former justice G S Singhvi, former Comptroller and Auditor General of India Vinod Rai and former cabinet secretary T S R Subramanian to preside over the book launch.

Parakh has been openly critical of CBI's probe against him and Kumar Mangalam Birla in the allocation of coal block to Hindalco. Soon after an FIR was lodged against him last year, Parakh had said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was the final decision maker and that he should be named as the third conspirator. The controversy had even led the PM issue a statement taking complete responsibility of approving the allocation as the then coal minister since it was "entirely appropriate".

Parakh's book, published by Manas Publications, is scheduled to be released close to the CBI's deadline to finish the coal probe by end of this month. The investigative agency had recently said it would be questioning Parakh and Birla. The CAG, in its report on coal allocation, had said Parakh recommended that the opaque system of allocating coal blocks through the Screening Committee route be done away with.

The CAG called him a "whistle-blower", saying Parakh highlighted the difference in the cost of coal procured through linkage and those that were mined captively.

According to the CBI, the Andhra Pradesh-cadre Indian Administrative Service officer overturned the committee's recommendation to allocate the block to public sector Neyveli Lignite Corp and instead allocated it to Hindalco after a meeting with Birla, "abusing his official position".