Sibal backs Pranab Mukherjee’s comments on 2G scam debate

NEW DELHI - Union Telecom and Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal on Thursday backed Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s comments on a debate between the treasury benches and the opposition on the 2G spectrum allocation scam.

On the sidelines of the tenth annual National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) conference here, Sibal said the suggestion for a debate had been mooted in the parliament long ago.

“This is not a new suggestion, in fact Pranab Mukherjee had made this suggestion even earlier to the Opposition that you can have a debate in Parliament to decide whether or not there should be a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), but even that was rejected,” said Kapil Sibal.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India in a report held former Union Minister of Communications and Information Technology A. Raja responsible for causing losses estimated at a whopping rupees 1.76 trillion to the exchequer in 2G telecom spectrum allotments to favoured operators without any auction bids.

The main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) along with other opposition parties had stalled the entire winter session of the Parliament, demanding for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe into the scam.

Commenting on the allocation of spectrum to the telecom operators, Sibal said the ministry would be looking forward to increase the number of spectrums being provided to the operators.

“The real problem is that in India we have the lowest volume of spectrum available to the public and to the civil community. Right, so we need to increase the amount of spectrum. If we have enough spectrum then three fourths of the problems are resolved. Because everybody would be entitled to a share with which they will be satisfied, right. So, that’s really the heart of the problem. And we’ll try and resolve that,” said Sibal.

He also said the security concerns on third generation video calls would soon be resolved. (ANI)