Odisha demands bigger share in its coal reserves

OST Bureau

New Delhi, July 29

Odisha has accused the Centre of adopting a discriminatory approach towards the state by giving barely 1.26 per cent of coal available in the state and demanded a larger chunk of the fuel reserves.

Odisha Energy Minister Arun Kumar Sahoo, in a letter to the Centre has said, while the state has a total estimated coal reserve of 71,447 MT the state-owned PSUs have access to only 1.26 per cent of the reserves while as much as 10.77 per cent have been allocated to private companies

Making it clear that supporting “other state and central entities at the cost of its own state companies” will be difficult, Sahoo in a his letter to Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal said that apart from private companies, 6.38 per cent reserves have been allotted to PSUs belonging to other states an that 32.15 per cent has been given to Coal India subsidiary Mahanadi Coal alone.

Sahoo has sought a re-examination of the recent blocks allocation by the Centre in which only one mine was allocated to Odisha PSU, Odisha Mining Corporation. Sahoo has termed it as a case of  “total injustice to the state”.