Govt to put 9 more coal blocks on auction in Phase I.

The Centre has added nine more coal blocks to the 92 being offered under the first bidding rounds taking the total to 101. This is nearly half of the 204 mines de-allocated by the Supreme Court on September 24.

'Initially, we were looking to offer 74, but seeing the requirements we have decided to add 27 more blocks. Of these 101 blocks, 65 have been kept for the auction and the remaining will be allocated to public sector entities,' said a senior Government official.

While all statutory clearances including environment are in place for the 74 blocks (42 already in operation and 32 ready for production), some of blocks from the remaining 27 require environment clearances. 'We are trying to get all approvals, so that even these blocks meet the auction/allocation timeline of March 2015,' the official added.

Of these 101, the Government has decided to keep 63 for power sector and 38 for non-regulated sectors such as cement and iron & steel.


HBL