The government is planning to allocate around 8-10 coal blocks to states, which does not have agreement with Coal India. Blocks will be allotted to state government-run public sector companies for commercial mining.
In an interactive session of Coal Consumers’ Association of India, Coal Secretary, Mr Anil Swarup said that the coal blocks would be dispensed after examination of applications by a committee. After that, they will decide, which block will go to which state.
The ministry will finalize the coal block allocation mining after the assembly elections. The move is meant to address the fuel needs of small industries and the companies can decide whether to provide coal through linkages or auction it, the official said.
At present, the small-scale industries, including sponge iron plants and brick kilns do not get coal from Coal India. They procure it at a higher price from re-sellers in the open market.
The coal secretary also said that a policy for coal linkage auction for regulated power sector is underway after a similar exercise has been made for unregulated sector.
The government is also considering rolling out an UDAY-like scheme to help the stressed steel sector in the country, he said.
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