The Parliament today has passed the coal mines bill due to aggressiveness from the opposition, who were demanding that the legislation should be sent to Parliamentary Standing Committee for scrutiny as it had many lacunae such as land acquisition and workers’ welfare.
The Coal Mines Bill, which replaces the ordinance, was brought in the wake of the Supreme Court order cancelling the allocation of 204 coal blocks on 24 Sep, 2014 and resetting the agenda for their allocation. The ordinance was issued in October to facilitate auctioning of the cancelled blocks. In the 1st round, 74 blocks are to be auctioned by the government.
Congress member Jyotiraditya Scindia said, “The proposed amendments are not required to auction the 74 coal blocks. This bill must be sent to the standing committee.”
Trinamool Congress member, Kalyan Banerjee has also demanded that the legislation should be sent to the standing committee for a discussion as several lacunae remained in the measure. While, members of AIADMK & BJD cautioned the government to avoid another scam in the coal sector as was witnessed during the UPA regime.
Mr. Scindia suggested to restruct Coal India Ltd (CIL) that accounts for about 80% of the country’s coal production. He further added that there is coal crisis at present and as much as USD 16 billion is spent on importing the dry fuel.
– Sourced
Leave a Reply