Chief minister Naveen Patnaik has voiced discontent over the Coal ministry's decision to allocate four new coal mines to Western Coalfields Ltd (WCL) instead of Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL).
The Ministry of Coal has decided to allot Rampia, dip side of Rampia, Ghogarpalli and dip extension of Ghogarpalli to WCL. All coal blocks are located in the jurisdiction of MCL. Both WCL and MCL are subsidiaries of Coal India Ltd (CIL).
In a letter to Coal minister Piyush Goyal, Patnaik said WCL with its headquarters at Nagpur (Maharashtra) may not be in a position to effectively tackle the issues which are critical