Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Friday, Mar 07, 2003
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Friday, Mar 07, 2003 |
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Industry & Economy
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Coal Many cos sitting idle on coal mining blocks Ambarish Mukherjee
NEW DELHI, March 6 MAJOR corporate houses in the country are sitting idle on high-quality coal blocks bearing low ash content coal allotted to them for captive mining. Despite the availability of resources, these companies are always finding some excuse or the other to delay the start of mining activity in their respective blocks. In fact, the reluctance of the private lease holders to invest in mining operations is increasing the forex outgo, because some of these companies are meeting their coal requirements through imports. In some cases, there are doubts on whether the company concerned will take up the activity at all, sources said. "Despite issuing show-cause notices, the situation has not improved,'' they added. Companies which are keeping these virgin collieries unexplored, even after taking them on lease several years ago, have been told return them failing which they may be forfeited, officials said. But even then, nothing has happened, according to Ministry sources. These include big names of the industry like Indian Aluminium Ltd (Indal) controlled by the Aditya Birla group, cement major ACC, the Ispat group of industries controlled by the Mittals, the Lloyds group as well as State public sector undertakings like Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) and Steel Authority of India (SAIL), to name a few. According to the Union Minister of Coal, Mr Karia Munda, who assumed office in January this year, out of a total of 27 blocks allotted for captive mining to as many companies, only four have started production. These are CESC Ltd of the RPG group, Jindal Strips Ltd of the O.P. Jindal group and two public sector undertakings - West Bengal State Electricity Board (WBSEB) and West Bengal Power Development Corporation Ltd (WBPDCL). According to Government officials, in a handful of cases, the reasons for the delays are genuine, relating to procedural formalities and other statutory requirements. In a number of cases, however, it is because the companies concerned have decided to go slow on their business plans.
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