Unsatisfied with the progress report on the captive blocks, the ministry of coal has decided to issue a show cause notice to companies such as NTPC, GVK Power, Bhushan SteelTata Steel and Arcelor Mittal among others.
The ministry is likely to de-allocate the captive coal blocks of these companies. In July this year, the ministry had asked for a progress report from these companies for developing the captive coal blocks allotted to them.
“We want to enhance the coal production of the country. For this, we can snatch the coal blocks back,” Jaiswal added. India produced about 532 million tonnes of coal in 2009-10 and aims to cross the 600 million tonnes mark in 2010-11. However, the demand-supply gap is likely to be in the range of 80 million tonnes. The gap is expanding rapidly,” Sriprakash Jaiswal, Minister of Coal told PTI.
ArcelorMittal India Ltd and GCK Powers have been allocated the Seregarha coal block in Jharkhand. It has also been allocated the Rampia coal block along with five other companies in Jharkhand and faces the threat of deallocation. NTPC’s Pakhri Barwadih, Chatti Bariatu, Kerandari and Talaipalli coal block are facing the axe of the ministry. A total of 93 coal mines and 4 lignite mines face the threat of deallocation with the latest move of coal ministry.
The decision was taken at a high-level meeting recently held in the ministry.
Of these 93 coal blocks, 45 belong to government sector companies, while 48 belong to the private sector companies. All 4 lignite blocks belong to the private sector companies.
In addition, 23 government and private sector companies have been issued advisories to complete the development process of the blocks allotted to them at the earliest, to avoid deallocation of their blocks.
The government has issued a total of 207 captive coal blocks till date, of which only 26 have started production of coal.
Comments