The Ministry of Coal has issued a warning to Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC), Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB), Meghalaya Mineral Development Corporation (MMDC) and Assam Mineral Development Corporation (AMDC) for the inordinate delay in development of the Mandakini-B coal block jointly allocated to these companies.
The ministry has warned the allocatees to expedite development of the block or else face de-allocation of the coal block.
OMC officials could not be reached for comments on the matter.
The warning follows a showcause notice to these firms which were issued by the ministry on October 29 last year. Though replies to the notice were furnished by these companies, they were not considered to be convincing by the review committee of the ministry.
The Mandakini-B coal block was allocated to these companies on July 25, 2007 under Section 3 (3) (a) (i) of Coal Mines (Nationalization) Act, 1973.
In order to expedite the development of the coal block, various review meetings were held from time to time with the representatives of the allocatee companies. In the review meeting held on June 22-23, 2009, it was noted that the companies were lagging behind the normative milestones abruptly as they have not taken serious steps to develop the coal block.
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In the next review meeting held on July 20-21 last year, it was noted by the ministry that no serious efforts have been made by the companies to develop the coal block even after repeated assurances tendered by the companies.
The review meeting of the ministry expressed dissatisfaction with the overall progress of the block and inferred that the allocatees are non-serious about the development of the block.