Government of India is going to allocate 17 coal blocks with estimated reserves of 8,500 million tonnes of coal to public sector undertakings (PSUs). The allocations of coal will be done under the amended provisions of MMDR Act (Mines and Minerals Development and Regulation Act) Deocha-Pachami block (total estimated ares of 9.7 Sq. km) is located in the south western part of Birbhum, West Bengal. Another potential coal reservoir Dewanganj Harinsingha blocks (estimated area 2.6 Sq. Km) is located in the western fringe of Birbhum. These two blocks together has constituted the largest coal reserve of West Bengal. West Bengal government is showing keen interest in extracting this coal reserves, expecting that the estimated huge reserve of coal will revive states economy. A number of local people are in favor of this project expecting that the proposed coal mining will change the socio-economic landscape of this region.

Deocha-Pachami block has an estimated reserve of 19 billion tons of non-coking coal reserves. The initial investment will be around Rs 10,000 crore over three-four years.