In the upcoming coal mines’ auction, Indian Coal Ministry is not going to offer Mahan coal block (Madhya Pradesh).
Government has now decided to auction 23 mines instead of 24 as Ministry of Environmentand Forests (MoEF) is yet to grant clearance to Mahan coal block project.
In 2006, Mahan coal block lying on the periphery of the Mohan Ban Reserve Forest, located at Singrauli Coalfields in Madhya Pradesh, was allocated to Essar Power and Hindalco Industries, for their end-use plants.
Previous to this, Coal Ministry decided to withdraw Namchik Namphuk coal mine based in Arunachal Pradesh because of technical considerations. The mine is one from the list of 24 mines, which is to be auctioned in 1st batch of schedule-II (in production).
After the Supreme Court’s verdict on cancellation of 204 mines in Sep’14, which were declared as illegal, the government decided to auction & re-allocate these blocks in different phases.
25 Dec’14 onward, the government started coal mines auction process. For qualified bidders, e-auction of coal mines will be held between 14 & 22 Feb, 2015. The Coal Ministry is expected to complete the first phase of auction till Mar’15.
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