The Coal Ministry has added 18 more blocks to the 74 being offered in the first bidding round, taking the total to 92. “It was felt that the blocks being offered initially were not enough to meet the demands of the power sector,” said a senior Coal Ministry official who did not want to be identified. The overall coal requirement for the power sector — indigenous as well as imported — is 595 million tonnes for 2014-15. There is an overall shortage of 81 million tonnes of indigenous coal for the power sector.

Of the 92 blocks to be auctioned or allocated to public sector entities, 59 will be set aside for the power sector, the official said. And, of the 59, the Centre will put 25 blocks for auction and 34 will be kept aside for Central and State public sector entities.

Following the Supreme Court verdict de-allocating 204 coal blocks, the Centre has decided to re-allocate the blocks in phases.

The Centre had allocated 218 coal blocks to both public and private sector entities between 1993 and 2010.

Allocations were cancelled for 204, while exempting 12 blocks allocated to ultra mega power projects and one each to NTPC and SAIL. The Coal Ministry was to go ahead with auction/allocation of 74 blocks by March 31, 2015. The Centre proposes to complete the entire bidding process by March 16.

Related Topics