The Coal Ministry has begun the process of allotment of mines to central and state public sector units, starting with the allotment of 36 coal blocks.
The Supreme Court had last year in September scrapped all but four of 218 coal blocks allocated by the government over the past two decades, in a tougher-than-expected ruling that sank shares of companies that have invested heavily in projects around the concessions.
Most power, steel and cement companies that won blocks have until end-March to return them and the government then plans to auction them off. The previous practice of selective allocation was ruled illegal and arbitrary by the court.
Coal Secretary Anil Swarup said the ministry has started the process of coal allocation.
"Today, we are issuing a notification for allotment of 36 coal blocks. More mines would be added subsequently depending on the requirement. So, it will depend on the request we receive from state entities or the public sector undertakings in terms of allocation of coal blocks," said Swarup.
He added the ministry is to issue guidelines for these coal blocks and those firms which already have coal linkages will have to surrender them and once the linkages are surrendered then more coal will be made available to state-owned Coal India Limited.
Coal India accounts for about 80 percent of the country's total output. Coal fuels 60 percent of the country's power production.
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"Out of 101 mines we are looking at 98 mines, as the coal ministry has examined and it was discovered that there were three blocks in "No Go" area. Out of 98 mines, 36 blocks are going for allocation. 42 mines are auctioned, 23 blocks in schedule II and 23 blocks in schedule III and rest 16 will be auctioned in future," he said.
Around 167 bidders requested to visit the coal block site, he added.