New Delhi:
The 2G spectrum scam which has pushed the government to the brink of disaster could soon be eclipsed by another spectrum scam.
The Opposition is beginning to target the government over another inquiry by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) which is studying whether S-band spectrum was given at throwaway prices to a company named Devas in 2005.
The CAG report has been summarized in an article in The Hindu newspaper today -the paper places the value of the scam at Rs 2 lakh crore.
The CAG has cautioned that "Since the audit is at very preliminary stage, it can by no stretch of imagination, be concluded that information as given in the media reports are findings of this department."
ISRO reports to the Department of Space (DoS), which in turn reports to the Prime Minister's Office.
A point that the BJP was quick to make today.
"This allocation has been done very quietly in the private domain. The loss is estimated to be Rs 2 lakh crore. This firm Devas gets custom made satellites, transformers, This is a very serious scandal, the Department of Space comes directly under the Prime Minister. The whole affair is vitiated by fraud," said the BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman.
The Congress sought to play down the issue of revenue loss. "Every CAG report will go to the PAC, the PAC will decide that whether this case has any merit or not. This is the parliamentary norm that when such matters are raised of revenue loss the matter will go to PAC," Congress spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed said.
The Hindu says it has a copy of the contract signed six years ago between Devas and Antrix, which is the commercial arm of ISRO. Devas reportedly wants to offer satellite broadband services in India on platforms including mobile.
Antrix has to build two satellites for Devas, which would use transponders on those satellites.
The newspaper says, "Under the deal, Devas Multimedia is to get access to 70 MHz of broadband spectrum in the 2500 Mhz band. This was once used by Doordarshan to deliver programmes by satellite to all parts of the country but is now considered to be of enormous commercial value for high-speed, terrestrial mobile communications."
The question that's being asked now is that if 15 MHz of 3G spectrum was sold for Rs 67,000 crore, could 70 MHz of superior spectrum have been sold for a lot more than Rs 2000 crore?
Devas Multimedia has responded by saying the reports are baseless, and that it does not own any spectrum.
In a statement to NDTV, it said, "There are factual inaccuracies in the stories reported, and Devas Multimedia has not received any communication, regarding the contract, from ISRO/Antrix or any other government agency. We do not own any spectrum, and the services we provide will be based on satellite transponders leased from ISRO/Antrix, wherein both - the satellite and spectrum - belong to the space research organisation."
The Opposition is beginning to target the government over another inquiry by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) which is studying whether S-band spectrum was given at throwaway prices to a company named Devas in 2005.
The CAG report has been summarized in an article in The Hindu newspaper today -the paper places the value of the scam at Rs 2 lakh crore.
The CAG has cautioned that "Since the audit is at very preliminary stage, it can by no stretch of imagination, be concluded that information as given in the media reports are findings of this department."
ISRO reports to the Department of Space (DoS), which in turn reports to the Prime Minister's Office.
A point that the BJP was quick to make today.
"This allocation has been done very quietly in the private domain. The loss is estimated to be Rs 2 lakh crore. This firm Devas gets custom made satellites, transformers, This is a very serious scandal, the Department of Space comes directly under the Prime Minister. The whole affair is vitiated by fraud," said the BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman.
The Congress sought to play down the issue of revenue loss. "Every CAG report will go to the PAC, the PAC will decide that whether this case has any merit or not. This is the parliamentary norm that when such matters are raised of revenue loss the matter will go to PAC," Congress spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed said.
The Hindu says it has a copy of the contract signed six years ago between Devas and Antrix, which is the commercial arm of ISRO. Devas reportedly wants to offer satellite broadband services in India on platforms including mobile.
Antrix has to build two satellites for Devas, which would use transponders on those satellites.
The newspaper says, "Under the deal, Devas Multimedia is to get access to 70 MHz of broadband spectrum in the 2500 Mhz band. This was once used by Doordarshan to deliver programmes by satellite to all parts of the country but is now considered to be of enormous commercial value for high-speed, terrestrial mobile communications."
The question that's being asked now is that if 15 MHz of 3G spectrum was sold for Rs 67,000 crore, could 70 MHz of superior spectrum have been sold for a lot more than Rs 2000 crore?
Devas Multimedia has responded by saying the reports are baseless, and that it does not own any spectrum.
In a statement to NDTV, it said, "There are factual inaccuracies in the stories reported, and Devas Multimedia has not received any communication, regarding the contract, from ISRO/Antrix or any other government agency. We do not own any spectrum, and the services we provide will be based on satellite transponders leased from ISRO/Antrix, wherein both - the satellite and spectrum - belong to the space research organisation."
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