Four years on, auctioned coal mines still behind production target

After a Supreme Court judgment cancelled all coal mine allocations made over the past decade, the BJP-led central government held e-auction to reallocate them

The coal mines, which were awarded through flagship e-auction during the BJP’s first term, are still behind the targeted production. Even the ready-to produce mines of the 85 awarded till date have been unable to meet their peak-rated capacity (PRC), four years on.
 
There are only three mines that have met their annual peak-rated capacity in 2018-19 and only one mine, which is sticking to its mining plan and more than a dozen had nil production during the last financial year. The companies owning these mines — from state agencies of Rajasthan, Telangana, and Chhattisgarh to NTPC, and private