Dhoot prods Bengal to seek coal block allocation from Centre

Videocon chairman Venugopal Dhoot today turned the heat on the West Bengal government and said it should demand allocation of coal blocks from the Centre.

Speaking on the sidelines on a seminar organized by Assocham along with the Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry and Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce, Dhoot said that it was not enough to be assertive.

West Bengal commerce and industry minister Nirupam Sen said at the seminar that he had met the coal minister with chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee for coal allocation.

A number of coal blocks in Bengal were pending allocation.

The Centre had recently written to the state government saying that coal blocks would be auctioned according to new mining regulation being drafted.

Dhoot added that Maharashtra and Gujarat had got coal block allocation from Bengal.

However, commerce and industry secretary, Sabyasachi Sen said, only Uttam Galva got coal allocation about a year back when blocks were allocated through the state dispensation route.

Videocon is setting up a steel plant in Asansol-Durgapur belt in Bengal. It would also have a captive power plant.

Dhoot said, the project would not make headway unless it got coal allocation. However, Videocon was not looking to pull out from Bengal.