Coal blocks auction News

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said that the process to auction 41 coal mines for commercial mining is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat' and it will create more than 2.8 lakh jobs in the country.

Taking forward the process of fourth round of coal mines auction, the government has organised a pre-bid conference this week in which the queries of the prospective bidders would be clarified.

Coal-rich eastern states are in for a bonanza as they will get close to Rs 1,280 crore from the latest round of coal auction by this month-end, with Rs 650 crore already transferred to their kitty.

The government Thursday kick-started the process for the fourth round of e-auctioning of eight coal blocks, which is slated for January 18-22 next year.

The government is planning to auction up to 11 coal blocks in the fourth round of bidding which is likely to start in a fortnight.

The Centre needs to rationalise the prices of certain grades of coal as per gross calorific value (GCV) but there is no need to align them to international rates, Union Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal said here on Friday.

The first day of third tranche of coal mines auctions Tuesday saw government garnering a total of Rs 2,529 crore from bidding of two blocks in Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.

"Coal secretary would personally visit the states including Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh to review the position of each mine. In next couple of months all the mines will be operational," he said.

The government Monday kick-started the process for auction of 10 coal blocks in the third tranche, inviting bids from companies engaged in sectors like steel, cement and captive power generation.

In a bid to expedite operations from the recently allocated coal mines, the Environment Ministry has allowed transfer of environment clearances granted to the previous allottees to new owners without any fresh approval.

After the success of two rounds of coal blocks auction, the government on Wednesday said the third round for 16 mines will begin later this month.

The government has recently auctioned 33 coal blocks in two phases.

The government has cancelled bids of Jindal Steel and Power and BALCO for four coal blocks amid speculation of cartelisation.

Days after a court summoned former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a coal block scam case, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley Tuesday said the present government is pursuing the policy of auctioning coal blocks as it wants to avoid a similar situation.

The government is re-examining the bids for nine recently auctioned coal blocks, including those where Balco emerged top bidders, amid speculation of cartelisation during the bidding process.

The names of successful firms pertaining to six coal blocks that went under the hammer in the second lot are missing from the government's list of winning bidders.

The government has cancelled the proposed e-auction of Jamkhani coal block in Odisha which was scheduled to go under the hammer Friday as the last mine in the second tranche of auctions.

The coal auction kitty Monday crossed Rs two lakh crore mark after two more mines went under the hammer today in the ongoing e-auction -- surpassing CAG's estimate of Rs 1.86 lakh crore loss due to allocating mines without auction during the previous regimes.

The auction kitty from sale of coal mines and telecom spectrum Monday swelled to over Rs three lakh crore -- exceeding all estimates including by CAG for value of such resources, which have been at the centre of two major scams in the recent years.

Proceeds from the ongoing coal block auctions are likely to cross Rs 2 lakh crore, surpassing CAG's estimate of Rs 1.86 lakh crore loss on account of the allocation of blocks without auction during the UPA regime.