JSPL sees "no reason" behind deallocation of coal mine

Company said that grant of environment clearance to the Gare Palma IV/6 coal block was duly informed to the govt

Jindal Steel and Power Ltd has said it sees "no reason" behind deallocation of the coal block allocated to it in Chhattisgarh, saying environment clearance was granted to it on February 10.

It said that grant of environment clearance to the Gare Palma IV/6 coal block was duly informed to the government.

A committee of the Environment Ministry has considered the matter last month and recommended that "the project for grant of EC (Environment Clearance)... Pursuant to the said recommendations, the EC was granted on February 10, 2014," according to a JSPL spokesperson.

"In the circumstances explained above, we see no reason as to why this coal block be de-allocated by MOC (Ministry of Coal)," the spokesperson said.

The company said it has already made an investment of Rs 3,941.93 crore on the expansion project of its sponge iron capacity and associated facilities.

The Coal Ministry in a letter on February 17 to the CMD of JSPL has said: "IMG noted that though FC (Forest Clearance) Stage-I has been granted, EC has not been granted as on the cut-off date."

The company's block was recommended for deallocation by the inter-ministerial group (IMG) on coal blocks and the recommendations of the panel were considered and accepted by the authority. However, further action was put on hold in view of the case pending in the court.

According to the Coal Ministry, IMG further noted that MoEF - in their status report for EC - has informed that "TOR (Terms of Reference) was granted on October 19, 2012. The proposal was reconsidered in the 7th EAC (Expert Appraisal Committee) meeting held on December 12 and 13, 2013 and in 20-21 January, 2014 for consideration of environment clearance. The minutes of the meeting are awaited.

"Therefore, the block is liable for deallocation...Taking all the above facts into consideration, IMG recommends deallocation of the block".

The coal block, having a geological reserves of 4 million tonnes per annum was allocated jointly allocated to JSPL and Nalwa Sponge Iron Ltd in January 2006 for sponge iron.

IMG - under the chairmanship of Additional Secretary, Coal - was set up to review the progress of development of captive coal blocks alloted to private companies. It had recently recommended deallocation of 29 coal blocks.

The IMG has members from various ministries, including steel and power.