Corruption Watch

[Guest]

[url="http://www.dailypioneer.com/316288/After-2G-Isro%E2%80%99s-S-band-scam-rattles-Govt.html"]After 2G, Isro’s S-band scam rattles Govt[/url]

February 08, 2011 3:49:49 AM

PNS | New Delhi

Worth Rs 2 lakh cr, latest racket leads straight to PM



Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday found himself in the line of Opposition’s fire as a new ‘spectrum scam’ threatened to create fresh trouble for the embattled UPA Government.



The target has shifted from former Telecom Minister A Raja to the Prime Minister following a news report quoting the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India’s preliminary findings that the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) — under the Department of Space which is headed by Manmohan Singh — allotted huge spectrum to a private operator, Devas Multimedia, at throwaway prices without going through any bidding process. Devas is owned by MG Chandrasekhar, a former scientific secretary at Isro.



Pegging the State exchequer’s loss to the tune of `2 lakh crore, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has asked Singh to clarify his stand on this deal. “Recently, BSNL and MTNL were allotted only 20 MHz for `12,487 crore. But for allocation of 70 MHz to this private operator, the Government is charging only `1,000 crore,” BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman told newspersons here on Monday.



The BJP also demanded that the agreement be nullified, spectrum recovered and a comprehensive inquiry conducted to establish criminality. “This whole affair is vitiated by fraud… As a result, this country is facing not only loss of revenue but frittering away valuable national asset,” Sitharaman added.