Bharat Coking, Eastern Coalfields to be revived

The government has decided to revive Bharat Coking Coal Ltd (BCCL) and Eastern Coalfields Ltd in view of the problems being faced in the coal sector. This has been one of the major demands of the Left.

Senior coal ministry officials told Business Standard that the revival packages for the two companies would cost the government about Rs 9,000 crore over a period of eight years.

The in-principle decision for revival was taken at a recent meeting of the coal ministry presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who is holding additional charge of the coal and mines ministry.

The package for BCCL is estimated at around Rs 4,905 crore while that of ECL is about Rs 3,800 crore, said an official.

The department of coal had submitted to the finance ministry a proposal to this effect some time back but did not get its approval.

"With the Prime Minister indicating that the revival would be done, a Cabinet decision is expected soon," said an official.

The revival packages envisage raising production of the two public sector undertakings to 38 million tonne per annum each. The production level of Sanctoria (West Bengal) based ECL is 29 mt while that of Dhanbad (Jharkhand) based BCCL is 24 mt.

The previous government had also worked out a Rs 5,000 crore package for BCCL last year. Under that package, 15 loss-making mines were to be shut down along with redeployment of manpower.

Out of the total revival money, the parent Coal India Ltd (CIL) was to put in Rs 2,500 crore, the government of Jharkhand Rs 15 crore and the remaining was to come from the Coal Conservation & Development Fund.

BCCL with a Rs 2,500 crore authorised share capital is a major producer of prime (raw and washed) and medium coking coal.