New Delhi: After a poor show of investors in the previous rounds of coal auctions, the government is now finally considering allotment of six mines soon.
The Ministry of Coal had initiated the auction process for 27 coal mines under tranches 8, 9 and 10 for the non-regulated sector and the allotment process for 15 coal mines under tranches 6, 7, 8 and 9 for various specified end-uses such as power, iron & steel.
In the auction process, the successful bidders for all the mines except Gare Palma IV-1 have been recommended by the Central Government, an official statement said.
Accordingly, the allotment process of Bikram mine in Madhya Pradesh to Birla corporation has been initiated. The company quoted a price of Rs 154 per tonne of coal that would provide state government revenue of Rs 166.32 crore for 30 years.
The Jamkhani block in Odisha is being allotted to Vedanta that quoted a coal price of Rs 1674 per tonne giving revenue of Rs 13,057 crore to the state.
In the Allotment process, applications were received in case of 6 out of 15 coal mines. On the basis of the evaluation of the applications, received in the allotment processes, these 6 coal mines are under consideration for allotment. These include Durgapur II, Mandakini, Utkal C, Sugia, Tokisud north.
These mines will add more than 5mt coal per annum and boost coal production in the country and reduce the dependence of industries on imported coal. This will also generate about Rs 15,000 crore revenue for State Governments where the mines are located besides royalties and other applicable taxes.
