Coal Ministry has added 11 more blocks to the tentative list proposed for sale in the second tranche of auction for commercial coal mining. Earlier, consent was invited for 64 blocks that were floated in the first week of February.
Latest addition comprises of 6 blocks from Chhattisgarh state followed by 2 blocks from Odisha while single block each from Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh are also included.
Interestingly, Dolesara, Jarekela, Jharpalam-Thangarhat and Phuljhari (East-West) blocks are carried forward from the previous tranche as they had failed to incite bids in the technical round.
The list has been extended to provide stakeholders with multiple preferences based on market feasibility so as to increase the likelihood of allocating these blocks. Notably, first tranche of auction initially started off with 41 blocks but the list was later revised to 38, after sale of some of the blocks were subjected to resistance from state government over environment concerns.
Although, most of the issues have been addressed this term, the ministry has sought additional consent from the stakeholder in order to arrive at the final list.
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