We wish to clarify the following in respect of the news that was telecast in CNBC TV-18 today:

We have seen the Tenth Report of the Committee on Petitions, prepared by a 15 member Parliamentary Committee, headed by Shri Prabhunath Singh, Hon'ble MP and presented to the Lok Sabha on the 18th of March, 2006. The Committee has examined a representation signed by one Shri Ashok Singh, resident of C-1-67, Madhu Vihar, New Delhi and forwarded by Shri Rajiv Ranjan Singh Lalan, Hon'ble M.P, who was also a Special Invitee to the proceedings of the Petition Committee

We find there is a Dissent Note, expressed by one of the members of the Committee, enclosed to the 10th Report of the Committee on Petitions. The dissent note has stated that attributing malafide intentions for floating of tender with LSAW technology and conclusion of loss to national exchequer are unfounded.

We find the dissent note calling for a review of entire observations/recommendations of the report, before proceeding further.

The dissent note has also pointed out that another report in the matter, submitted to the Parliamentary Standing Committee, by a Fact Finding Team, appointed by the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas (MoP&NG), has concluded that GAIL has followed the Presidential Directive, issued for the DUPL tender, promptly and in its true spirit

We are attempting to understand the calculations showing a notional loss of more than Rs. 292 crores in the DVPL tender of 2002, compared to the DUPL tender of 2006, because of the choice of technology of pipes. To the best of our knowledge, this has not been established by any independent expert body

The matter of alleged extra expenditure by GAIL due to its choice of technology of pipes in the DVPL tender was examined in detail in 2004 by a Parliamentary Committee on Government Assurances. The Petitions Committee report has mentioned that in this regard, the MoP&NG had conveyed to the Parliamentary Committee on Government Assurances that the DVPL project had achieved a cost saving of more than Rs. 700 crore and a statement to this effect was also tabled in the Lok Sabha in March 2005

In July 2005, the DVPL project was awarded the prestigious National Petroleum Management Programme (NPMP) Award for "Excellence in Project Management for the year 2003-04" by the then Hon. Minister for P&NG and Panchayati Raj. The nominations for this award, which is open to all the public and private sector oil & gas companies of the country, has been evaluated by an independent expert group comprising a former Chairman of the Railway Board, a professor from the Indian Institute of Management and a Director of a Navratna PSU. The citation, signed by the then Secretary (P&NG), states Dahej Vijaipur Gas Pipeline Project is a brilliantly executed project  achieving both cost reduction by 20% A major reduction in cost was secured by importing special steel instead of fabricated steel pipes by encouraging pipe mills to acquire capability for line pipe coating...

The Petitions Committee report, under Para 24, has taken note of the position of the MoP&NG that there is no malafide in this. We are awaiting further directions from the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas in this matter and would cooperate with any body of experts appointed to evaluate the financial implications of the choice of technology, recommended by our consultants, M/s EIL and M/s Tractebel.