Summary:
Kolkata: The Central and the West Bengal governments will ink an MoU next week on the Deocha Pachami coal block - considered the world's second largest and largest reserve in Asia, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced here on Wednesday. Banerjee said the block located in Birbhum district has an inferred reserve of 2.1 billion tons, and would generate employment for one lakh people. The Chief Minister, however, said her government would not rush through the project, but first rehabilitate around 4,000 people - 40 per cent of them tribals - residing in that area. "Then I will speak to the people so that they can be taken into confidence," the Chief Minister said. The Deocha Pachami coal block was earlier offered jointly to West Bengal, Bihar, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and the Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam but subsequently, others had backed out of the asset allegedly citing cost and complexities in extracting the resources..