Operationalisation of Coal blocks allocated under the open auction of Coal Mines

Under the provisions of the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015, and the rules made there under, 83 coal mines have been allocated for specified end uses which includes Power, Steel, Cement and Captive Power Production as well as for sale of coal. This was stated by Shri Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of State (IC) for the Ministry of Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy and Mines, in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.

Further, the Minister informed that out of the 83, 31 coal mines (17 Schedule II & 14 Schedule III)have been allocated through auction. For the purpose of auction, specified end-uses other than power viz. Iron & Steel, Cement and Captive Power Plants have been clubbed as “Non-Regulated Sector”. The Government has so far successfully auctioned 22 coal mines to the ‘Non-Regulated Sector’ and 9 coal mines for specified end use ‘Power’ under the said Act, the details of which are as given below: 

S.No.	Specified End Use	Name of Coal Mine / Block	Successful Bidder	Schedule	Mining Operations Commenced/ Mine Opening Permission  Granted
1	Non -Regulated Sector	Belgaon	Sunflag Iron and Steel Company Limited	II	Yes (7)
2		Bicharpur	UltraTech Cement Limited
3		Chotia	Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd.
4		Gare Palma IV‐4	Hindalco Industries Limited
5		Gare Palma IV‐5	Hindalco Industries Limited
6		Mandla North	Jaiprakash Associates Limited
7		SialGhoghri	Reliance Cement Company Pvt. Ltd.
8		Gare Palma IV‐7	Monnet Ispat& Energy Limited		No
9		Kathautia	Hindalco Industries Limited
10		MarkiMangli III	B.S. Ispat Limited
11		MarkiMangli-I	TopworthUrja and Metals Ltd
12		Ardhagram	OCL Iron & Steel Limited
13		Mandla‐South	Jaypee Cement Corporation Limited	III	Yes (1)
14-15		Brinda and Sasai	USHA MARTIN Limited		No
16		Dumri	Hindalco Industries Limited
17		Gare‐Palma Sector ‐IV/8	Ambuja Cements Limited
18		Lohari	AraanyaMines Private Limited
19		Majra	Jaypee Cement Corporation Limited
20		Meral	Trimula Industries Limited
21		Moitra	JSW Steel Limited
22		Nerad Malegaon	Indrajit Power Private Limited
23	Power	Amelia North	Jaiprakash Power Ventures Limited	II	Yes (3)
24		Sarisatolli	CESC Limited
25		Talabira‐I	GMR Chhattisgarh Energy Limited
26		Tokisud North	ESSAR Power MP Limited		No
27		Trans Damodar	The Durgapur Projects Limited
28		Ganeshpur	GMR Chhattisgarh Energy Limited	III
29		Jitpur	Adani Power Limited
30		Mandakini	Mandakini Exploration and Mining Limited
31		Utkal ‐ C	Monnet Power Company Ltd

Detailing further, the Minister informed that out of the 17 Schedule II coal mines auctioned under the provisions of the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015 which were operational before cancellation of the 204 blocks by the Supreme Court, mining operations have commenced/mine opening permission granted in 10 Schedule II coal mines. In addition, 1 Schedule III coal mine is also operational. Since commencement of mining operations, 9.56 Million Tonnes (provisional)of coal have been produced from these coal mines subsequent to allocation under the said Act, the Minster added.

Shri Goyal further stated that rest of the Schedule II coal mines are in the process of starting mining operations after obtaining necessary statutory clearances as well as appointment of mining contractor. Almost all the clearances at the level of the Central Government have been granted for commencement of mining operations.

Meetings have been held from time to time with allottees of the coal mines / blocks, representatives of the State(s) concerned and Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change with a view to bring the allocated coal mines into production expeditiously. Online Coal Project Monitoring Portal has been established in Ministry of Coal for resolving issues pending at State level. Clarifications have been issued on various issues hampering mine development for expeditious operationalisation of coal mines, the Minister informed.

In many cases, the matter of appointment of Mine Developer & Operator is sub-judice. Schedule III coal mines are expected to commence mining only in the next 2-3 years as they were not operational at the time of the allocation.            

Replying to another question in Rajya Sabha, the Minister informed that the revenue already generated till October, 2016 from the allocation of 83 coal mines under the provisions of the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act, 2015 is Rs. 2,779.36 Crores (excluding Royalty, Cess and Taxes) which is being deposited with the coal bearing State concerned.

Courtesy: pib.nic.in