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SC terming coal block allocation illegal a wake up call: Goyal

The coal block allocation held illegal and arbitrary by the Supreme Court was a 'wake up call' for the government to bring in greater transparency and answerability in the system, Power and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal said today.

"It's a wake up call for all of us, Supreme Court is hearing the matter as we speak. The accountability and transparency standards throughout the country in every action of the government has to become more transparent, subject to more probity," Goyal said here.

He said that the politicians and bureaucrats have to be more cautious and conscious of their responsibility.

The apex court, last month, held that all coal block allocations made since 1993 till 2010 before pre-auction era during earlier NDA and UPA regimes have been done in an illegal manner.

The government is awaiting Supreme Court's decision on the matter which will decide the fate of 218 coal blocks allotted during the period.

Meanwhile, Goyal met the state power ministries and officials to deliberate on issues that focus on policy improvement.

"The focus of today's meeting should be policy improvement. We can meet some other time to discuss the problems and specific issues of states," he said addressing dignitaries of the states at the meeting.

However, he said that specific examples which can lead to policy improvement are welcome

Of the 29 states and five Union Territories, representatives from only 18 states were present at the meeting.

"Some states thought that it (the meeting) was not important enough," Goyal said.

The Minister said the Centre would require co-operation from the state governments to achieve its aim of providing 24x7 power to every household in the country in the next five years.

"We can become a diesel and generator free country and production of 1 billion tonnes of coal by 2019 is achievable. We need states' co-operation," he said adding that 18 per cent growth in coal production is possible "if we work together".

Source: PTI