Beginning a new era in coal sector, Government of India has launched the auction process for commercial mining in an event held today, that which was graced by the presence of Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi via video conferencing.
Directing the nominated authority to carry out the auction process, the Coal ministry has identified a preliminary list of 41 coal blocks to be put up for sale.
State-wise share indicates that 11 of them are from Madhya Pradesh, nine from each state including Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Odisha, while, remaining three are from Maharashtra. (Detailed list can be seen here).
Highlighting the various reforms that have been adopted for commercial mining to encourage higher participation, Mr. M Nagaraju, Joint Secretary and Nominated Authority, Ministry of Coal, stated that the offered blocks in the current round of auction are small, medium and large mines, whose peak rated capacity ranges from 0.15 to 40 mn t per annum.
Besides, providing intrinsic details of the statutory clearance which would ease the initial hurdles, it was underlined that out of the 41 mines:
*30 have complete Geological reports
*29 have mine plan in place
*12 have completed land acquisition
*07 have environment clearances
*07 have forest clearances
*06 have mining leases
Collectively, the geological reserve of these blocks is reported to be 16.97 bn t (Billion Tonnes), with an estimated annual production of 225 mn t.
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