New Delhi: Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee today (Dec 9, 2004) pulled up Coal Minister Sibu Soren for not being present in the House when a calling attention notice relating to his Ministry on the reported move to privatise the Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) came up.

The Speaker noted that the Minister was not in the House when the matter was taken up. It would have been better if he were present in the House, Chatterjee told the minister while allowing him to make a statement on the issue.

"It is unfortunate that you were not present in the House when your name was called. In future, you should be here on time," Chatterjee told Soren.

Some BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) members including Sushil Kumar Modi vehemently protested, alleging that Soren was a "tainted" Minister and they would not listen to him.

The Minister said that there was no proposal or move to privatise NLC. He assured the members that NLC was a "performing PSU (Public Sector Unit) and we have no intention to privatise it".

He said that NLC is a profit-making PSU and during the last three years it has continuously earned profits, which touched Rs 1413 crore in 2003-04.