Coal Ministry to auction only six out of twelve explored coal mines

08 Jan 2013 Evaluate

Only six coal blocks would be put up for auction against the twelve coal blocks explored so far due to  various reasons like some of them being Coal Bed Methane blocks, among others. The Coal Ministry has identified 54 new coal blocks for auction to the bidders for captive use in different sectors including 16 for power and 12 for steel. In last month, government started the process of allotting coal mines and invited proposals from PSUs for allotting 17 blocks to them, mostly for captive power plants.

Following CAG report terming potential losses of Rs 1.86 lakh crore to the exchequer on account of blocks allotment to 57 private firms without auction, government has decided to make transparent coal mines allotment.

Earlier, Coal Secretary S K Srivastava had said that out of the 54 coal mines identified to be allocated through auction and government dispensation route, only 12 have been explored so far. While, Srivastava, refused to give a timeframe for conducting auction of these blocks and stated that there were issues which have long-term implications and needs more and more consultations.

Meanwhile, the environment ministry has turned down the coal ministry's request for grant of 'in-principle' clearances to mines identified for auction. According to the environmental ministry, in-principle environment and forest clearances to mines, which are to be auctioned, cannot be accorded to the environmental ministry guidelines and thus it is legally not enforceable.

Further, coal secretary Srivastava said that the government had advised CRISIL to consult ministry of environmental and forest (MoEF) for in-principal clearance to mines and consult the planning commission regarding pricing issue. CRISIL had in October submitted a draft report on methodology for fixing floor and reserve price of coal blocks to be auctioned.

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