Commercial coal mine auction list shrinks

Following protests by several state governments, number of mines on offer for commercial coal mining has been dropped to 38 from the initial 41 with withdrawal of 6 mines and inclusion of 3 in the first tranche list.

Following revisions have been made in the list of coal mines offered for auction

Addition of Dolesara, Jarekela and Jharpalam-Tangarghat coal mines to the 1st Tranche of Auction under the MMDR Act, 1957

Withdrawal of Morga South Coal Mine from the 1st Tranche of Auction under the MMDR Act, 1957

Withdrawal of Fatehpur East, Madanpur (North), Morga-2, and Sayang Coal Mines from the 11th Tranche of Auction under the CM(SP) Act, 2015

Accordingly, 38 coal mines are offered for auction for commercial mining under the 11th tranche of auction under CM(SP) Act, 2015 and 1st Tranche of Auction under MMDR Act, 1957, the coal ministry said in a notification on September 3.

Bander block in Maharashtra was first taken off the list of 41 mines following which three blocks in forest areas of Chhattisgarh were identified to be removed.

Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi accepted suggestion of Chhattisgarh government to replace five mines with three new mines on environmental and livelihood concerns in Hasdeo Arand forest area which includes Morga -2, Morga (South), Madanpur north, Shyang, and Fathehpur East.

Auction timeline delayed

Commercial coal mine auction has been delayed as expected with due date for Expression of Interest pushed back by over a month to September 29 from earlier August 18 with auction being planned in the later part of October. The approval of successful bidders is expected by November.

Efforts to auction off blocks in a hurry, many of which are in eco-sensitive areas is now being criticized by a section of environment and climate change watchers. This would jeopardise participation of any major global mining companies as they would like to stay away from such controversies.