Opposition slams telecom ministry over 2G spectrum allotment

The telecom ministry came in for heavy flak from the opposition in the Rajya Sabha over the controversial 2G spectrum process with leader of opposition Arun Jaitley terming it as the 'biggest national loot'. He demanded an inquiry into the process by the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) for fixing the blame and penalising those who perpetrated the alleged fraud.

Jaitley said the centre lost more than Rs60,000 crore by doling out licences at throwaway prices along with the spectrum. The money could have gone towards reducing the fiscal deficit he said.

He added that benefit which should have gone to the exchequer from the sale of scarce spectrum had been diverted by the government's policies to private sector companies that offloaded their stake to foreign players and earned crores in the process. He said a probe needed to be conducted into the matter.

Charging the Congress party of compromising national interest for the compulsions of coalition politics, he said it amounted to criminal misconduct causing a national loss of crores of rupees.

He added that, though the entry of private players had helped raise the standards of entrepreneurship, the capacity of private sector to influence government decision-making was a disturbing feature.

Communications and IT minister A Raja however, defended the decisions taken by his ministry under the previous regime and said the everything was in line with the National Telecom Policy and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's recommendations.