C oal India employees, who were barred by their unions from buying shares during the mega-IPO last year, may after all get another opportunity. The Coal Ministry now says it can still reconsider the offer to allot up to 2 per cent shares to the workers on a preferential basis. The trade unions had boycotted the divestment of the government's stake in Coal India Limited and had asked employees to abstain from participating in the issue. The government had reserved 10 per cent of the total shares on sale for CIL employees and had offered a discount of 5 per cent to workers on the issue price of Rs 245 per share. "If workers are ready, we can make allotment of up to 2 per cent shares to them on a preferential basis at the same price," Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal told PTI in an interview. He regretted that CIL's employees could not benefit from the company's mega-IPO due to trade unions' opposition to disinvestment.