The West Bengal government has accused the Union ministry of coal of going back on its assurance to allot an adequate number of coal blocks via the government dispensation route. The state government has been demanding at least nine coal blocks for planned projects but has received none since 2008.
Officials in the state government said that the coal ministry had clarified that the existing policy of dispensation to the state utilities would continue in spite of the changes in rules for captive end-use. Based on this assurance, the officials said, steps were taken to make land, power, water and other infrastructure available to upcoming steel, alumina, polycarbonate, poly silicon and solar photovoltaic module projects in West Bengal. These projects would require coal blocks identified at nine places-Kunur, Sunuri, Lalganj, Nachan, Dharma, Kabitirtha, Deocha-Pachami, Dewanganj and Barjora South.
Further, the state government argued that the ministry's current proposal of granting an opportunity to the second-lowest bidder to match the highest offer, only if the bid was 5 per cent lower than the highest bid, left such a critical issue to chance.
On the issue of optimum use of resources, the state government said that it was aware that coal extraction should precede other economic land usage. In case of West Bengal, taking into account the congruence of coal-bearing areas with the existing industries in the Asansol-Durgapur belt and high demographic density in the region, forgoing industrial and infrastructure development for coal extraction was not a very pragmatic decision, the state pointed out. But, the state government agreed to reconcile the need for coal extraction with industrial development on a case-by-case basis so that both could co-exist.
The West Bengal government also requested the Centre to expedite the policy for isolated coal blocks that will empower the states to allocate small and isolated patches to small and medium industries and also keep illegal mining in check.
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