Aggrieved by the insufficient supply of coal to power plants in the state, Madhya Pradesh Energy Minister Rajendra Shukla urged the central government to set up a national coal regulatory authority.

According to the minister, the policies of the Coal India (CIL) were monopolistic to the extent that it even not bothered to convene a single meeting of the coal linkage committee in the past three years.

The minister called for setting up an effective national level committee to end what he calls the "arbitrary activities" of CIL and the central government. There is no effective forum for the state governments to redress their grievances, he said.

The central government allegedly refused to release adequate coal for its power plants in Madhya Pradesh leading to crisis in power generation.

The centre was supplying only 13.05 million tonne (mn t) against its fixed quota of 15 mn t. The state had demanded 17 mn t keeping in view its burgeoning demands.

But Abhay Dubey, state Congress spokesperson opposed the argument of the minister. He said the minister was passing the buck on the central government for its failure to provide power to the people. When it came to coal allocation the central government had allocated 10 coal blocks to the state government (Madhya Pradesh Mining Corporation).