Govt gets 185 applications for 23 coal blocks

The government has received 185 applications from various steel, cement, aluminium and iron companies for 23 coal blocks earmarked for captive mining. Applicants  include Tata Steel, ACC, Jindal Steel and Power, Ultratech Cement, JSW Steel, JK Cement.

The screening committee of the coal ministry, headed by the coal secretary HC Gupta, would be meeting on December 7-8 and December 17-18 for screening these applications.

With total reserves estimated at around 3 billion tonne, these blocks are situated in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

According to a coal ministry official, the steel sector will be allocated six blocks while nine blocks are meant for the cement sector and other blocks will be shared between the sponge iron and aluminium firms.

The screening committee has representatives from the power, steel and environment and forests ministries, as well as from the state governments of Orissa, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Maharashtra.

This round of allocation follows the allocation of 15 captive blocks - with estimated reserves of around 3.5 billion tonne - to 31 power sector companies two months ago. Eight out of the fifteen blocks were allotted on a sharing basis, while the remaining seven blocks were given on a stand-alone basis.