Separate ministers needed for Coal and power ministries: Jaiswal

Former Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal today accused the BJP government of improper management of coal reserves in the country and said the party has committed a 'mistake' by appointing one minister for both power and coal ministries.

"The BJP government has done the biggest mistake by giving both the coal and power ministries to one minister. If the coal ministry would have been given to another person then he would have made efforts to boost coal production in the country," Jaiswal told PTI.

The former MP from Kanpur said there are enough coal reserves in the country but no proper management to look after them.

Presently, Piyush Goyal is handling both the coal and power ministries under the BJP government.

"If the government does not pay heed to coal production, the problem will only rise. What the government should do now is encourage the production of coal," he said.

Jaiswal said when he was the Coal minister there were abundant coal reserves but it was not just supplied to power plants but efforts were also made to increase its production.

"There must be an effort to increase the coal reserves and not just keep on lending them to power plants," he said adding if this continues then one day all big plants will shut down.

He said the only solution to the problem is to allot coal and power ministries to two separate ministers so that one can focus on coal production while the other can look after power issues.