The Coal Ministry today said it has cancelled the allotment of a coal block to Shree Bhaidyanath Ayurved Bhavan Ltd (SBABL) over the company's failure to develop it in a timebound manner for captive use.
"The competent authority of the central government has decided to de-allocate the coal block and accordingly, Bhandak (West) coal block, allocated to SBABL, Nagpur, stands deallocated," the Coal Ministry said on its website.
The development follows recommendations by a Coal Ministry panel, which reviewed the progress made by steel, power, cement and other firms in developing 88 coal and lignite blocks allotted for captive use.
The Bhandak (West) coal block was allocated to the firm in 2003 to meet the coal requirement for its paper mill, located in Nagpur, Maharashtra.
The Coal Ministry had last year served notice to SBABL for its failure to develop coal blocks awarded to it within the timeframe stipulated in the mining agreements. The company had also furnished its reply to the showcause notice, it said.
"A committee set up in this regard has examined the reply of the company and has recommended to the government to de-allocate the coal block allocated to the company. The recommendation of the committee has been approved by the competent authority," the website said.
Yesterday, the ministry had said that it has taken away the Warora West (North) coal block allocated to Bhatia International Ltd to meet the coal requirement for its 0.51 million tonne per annum sponge iron plant in Chandrapur, Maharashtra.
"The competent authority in the Ministry of Coal is of the opinion that the allocatee company is not serious in developing the coal block and has therefore decided to de-allocate Warora West (North) coal block. Allocated to Bhatia International Ltd," the website had said.
On Monday, the government said that it has deallocated three coal blocks -- Ansettipalli, Punukula-Chilka and Pengedappa -- allocated to Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation to meet its coal requirement for captive use in specified end-use projects.
To weed out non-serious players, the government had last year issued notices to 84 coal and four lignite block allocatees for not developing the same within the stipulated timeframe and sought explanations as to why the blocks should not be cancelled.
