New Delhi: Facing allegations of
irregularities in spectrum allotment, Telecom Minister A Raja
on Friday hit out at the BJP saying free distribution of radio
frequency among operators during the NDA regime may have cost
the country over Rs 1.6 lakh crore.
Alleging that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance
regime had distributed for free, 250 Mega Hertz of spectrum
among the telecom operators, he told reporters that "the scam
during the NDA regime could be worth much more than Rs 1.6
lakh crore."
Asked about demands for his resignation, he replied, "I
will not step down."
Raja debunked charges of Rs 60,000 crore spectrum scam
levelled by BJP against him and said, "Ours is a government
that has followed all rules to the letter and spirit by
following the recommendations of TRAI (Telecom Regulatory
Authority of India)."
Pooh-poohing BJP leader Arun Jaitely`s allegation, he
said, "The BJP leader himself had defended a major operator in
court...
"During the NDA regime, 250 MHz of spectrum was
distributed among the operators without any charge. 900 bands
of spectrum, which was not to have been allocated, was given
as additional spectrum... This is the biggest scam."
Raja charged the NDA regime with reducing licence fees
several times and accused it of ignoring rules in allotment of
spectrum.
"Whereas there was no provision for giving spectrum
beyond 4.4 MHz to any single operator, the then government
distributed this frequency much beyond this limit and it did
not get any revenue share when the spectrum was given beyond
8-10 MHz," the minister said.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday came to Raja`s defence, saying allegations of corruption were not proof of corruption.
The Opposition parties have been calling for Raja`s
resignation ever since CBI searched offices of the Telecom
Ministry and some private mobile operators last week over
allegations that spectrum was allocated to new operators at
dirt-cheap prices, causing a loss of over Rs 20,000 crore to
the exchequer.
Bureau Report
