The Hindu Business Line : Coal blocks identification to be taken up soon

The Ministry of Coal will soon take up identification of coal blocks to deblock 20 billion tonnes of reserves as proposed by the Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, in his Budget speech, but allotments may take time and is unlikely to be completed within the coming financial year.

That is because the decision to allot any particular block among competing bidders, which will be taken by a screening committee, will have to consider various factors such as the stage of the project for which the allotment is being sought, the feasibility and viability factors and the financial and technical ability of the bidders, official sources said.

The screening committee is to be headed by the Coal Secretary with representatives from the Ministry of Power, Ministry of Steel, Ministry of Industry, the Railways and various State Governments.

Cut-off date

The issue had been discussed recently at the Energy Coordination Committee set up by the Prime Minister. Though the Coal Ministry had suggested that coal blocks that would not be required before 2025-26 be deblocked, the other two competing views were to either take the year 2015-16 or 2011-12 as the cut-off date.

"The decision with regard to the cut-off date is yet to be arrived at by the energy coordination committee," sources said.

Also, the decisions have to be taken on a case-by-case basis in co-ordination with the State Government concerned. However, the applicants have to apply to the Coal Ministry following which it will be sent to the State Government for their views, which would, however, not be binding on the Ministry, sources said.

According to available indications, the Government may deblock coal reserves of both thermal coal and coking coal. Last year, 45 coal blocks had been allotted; but till date the Government has not allotted any coking coal blocks, the sources said.

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