‘No coal block allocated during UPA-II regime’

New Delhi, Aug 27 (IANS) The government has not allocated any coal block since 2009, Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal said Monday, rejecting the allegation that coal blocks were allocated during his tenure without proper screening.

“No coal block has been allocated during UPA-II regime,” Jaiswal told reporters here.

The minister said some allocation letters might have been issued after 2009 when the second term of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA-II) government began.

In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Lok Sabha member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Hansraj Ahir has accused Jaiswal of allocating coal blocks to 35 private companies without mandatory sanction by the screening committee.

"Allocation letter might be given in 2011 but coal blocks were allocated in 2008," said Jaiswal, who has been coal minister since 2009.

–Indo-Asian News Service