Our stand vindicated with SC cancelling coal allocations: BJP

New Delhi: BJP today said its stand on “illegal” coal block allocations made during the previous UPA regime stood vindicated with the Supreme Court quashing 214 out of 218 coal blocks alloted to various companies. The party said the NDA government will make fresh allocations of the cancelled coal blocks in a transparent manner as the earlier allocations were made arbitrarily by ignoring the laid systems. “We have been saying that the coal block allocations made between 2006 and 2009 during the previous Congress regime were made illegally after ignoring the systems. These allocations had caused a loss of Rs 1.86 lakh crore. The BJP’s stand has been vindicated with the Supreme Court cancelling all such allocations,” BJP National Secretary Shrikant Sharma said. [caption id=“attachment_1697221” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Reuters[/caption] He said with the Supreme Court verdict coming out, the uncertainty looming over the coal sector has ended and the Narendra Modi-led NDA government will now set things right in the sector and carry out the necessary reforms required. “There is clarity in the sector after this judgement. The BJP-led government will also bring in the much-required reforms in the coal sector,” he said. The BJP leader added that the decision will help the coal sector in evolving fresh norms through transparency as the earlier allocations were made even to those not associated with the sector. The Supreme Court today dealt a major blow to the corporate sector by quashing the allocation of 214 out of 218 coal blocks that were alloted to various companies since 1993, in which it was claimed that around Rs 2 lakh crores were invested. A bench, headed by Chief Justice RM Lodha, saved only four blocks–one belonging to NTPC and SAIL each and two allocated to Ultra Mega Power Projects–from being cancelled. The bench granted six months breathing time to mining companies to wind up their operations in the coal blocks. PTI