Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday publicly denied that his government was involved in the controversial selling coal mine concessions, costing the government large sums of money.
When he delivered a statement to Parliament, opposition lawmakers shouted at him and told him to resign, according to The Asian Age newspaper.
A government report that came out two weeks ago said India lost around $33 billion for doing a poor job in selling coalfields in the country.
Singh said that he would cancel the selling of mines to companies that did not develop them.
“We have initiated action to cancel the allocations of allottees who did not take adequate follow-up action to commence production,” he said, according to the Asian Age.
Singh said “that any allegations of impropriety are without basis and unsupported by the facts,” reported the BBC. “I want to assure members that as the minister in-charge, I take full responsibility for the decisions of the ministry.”
In recent months, Singh has faced an onslaught of criticism from opposition lawmakers and protesters, accusing his government of corruption.
“It has been my general practice not to respond to motivated criticism directed personally at me,” he said outside of Parliament, according to the Times of India.
The head of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, Shri Arun Jaitley, described Singh’s government as “arrogant and despotic” because it did not realize “it would be held accountable for each of these coal block allocations,” according to a statement.
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