SAIL issued showcause notice for delay in mining

The Coal Ministry has served a showcause notice on Steel Authority of India (SAIL) for delay in mining from a block alloted to it.

It has also named RINL, Tata, JSW among others, who have not yet started mining from the captive blocks.

"The ministry took serious note of the delay and also show cause notice was issued in this regard (to SAIL). The allocattee company has promised to expedite the production of coal from the allocated coal blocks at the earliest," Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

The coal block was allotted to SAIL in October 1995 while Tata Steel, Rashtriya Ispat Nigam, Jaiswal Neco and Domco were allotted blocks in 2005.

The Minister said blocks were allotted to JSW Steel, Bhushan Steel & Power, Jai Balaji Ispat and RINL.

Barely 25 coal blocks of the total 201 alloted till March 2009, have come into production and the government may de-allocate blocks where mining operation is yet to commence.

Meanwhile, replying to a separate query, Jaiswal said production from 182 coal blocks with estimated reserves of 41.47 billion tonnes, alloted till 1998 was a meagre about 120 million tonnes.

"Till March 2009, 201 coal blocks have been allocated, out of which 25 coal blocks have come into production," Jaiswal said.