'MoU with Chhattisgarh on power not cancelled'

Energy Minister D K Shivakumar  on Tuesday  countered Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh's charges that the Siddaramaiah-led state government has cancelled the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with his state for power generation.

Replying to BJP's Sunil Subramani in the Legislative Council, he said the government will take measures to set up the thermal power station after the Centre allocates coal blocks.

About 1,000 acres of land that the Energy Department had acquired in Chhattisgarh for this purpose was recently fenced to prevent encroachment.

Raman Singh appears to have made the statement without proper information in this regard, he added.

Coal blocks

Shivakumar urged the Opposition BJP to join hands with the state government in exerting pressure on the Centre for allocating coal blocks to the state at the earliest.

The leader of the Opposition K S Eshwarappa said that while he was energy minister, the state had approached the Centre for coal block allocation, but the demand had been turned down.

The Opposition was ready to accompany the government to the centre for coal block allocation, he added.