Giving a new turn to the missing coalgate files saga, a Greenpeace NGO claimed here on Wednesday that it has copies of letters obtained through RTI from the Union Coal Ministry stating that the files related to allocations of coal blocks from 1993 to 2012 are with the CBI.
Notably, Greenpeace had on December 23, 2011, sought to know from the Coal Ministry under RTI regarding ‘Information pertaining to the missing files of the Amelia and Mahan coalmines projects’ of Madhya Pradesh. Greenpeace shared two RTI copies that they received from the coal ministry on October 4, 2012, and February 28, 2013.
On both the occasions the Coal Ministry claimed that the files related to allocations of coal block from 1993 to 2102 are all with CBI. Senior Media officer - Greenpeace Jagori Dhar informed that we had filed an RTI on Aug 28, 2012 to the Ministry of Coal asking for information on coal blocks allocation from 1993 to 2012.
Dhar furthers said, “We got a response from Director appellate authority Ministry of Coal PSS Reddy saying that all the applications of the companies who have been allocated coal blocks along with annexure in original are in the custody of the CBI.” She said that Reddy in his letter said the information sought on copies of applications who have been allocated coal blocks, it is informed that all the applications along with annexure and enclosures in original, are in the custody of Central Bureau of Investigation.
She said her NGO had applied again for the same information files and got the same response on February 28, this year. She said that the RTIs nail Coal Ministry's lie.