Centre to review coal block allocation policy

The Centre proposes to review the existing policy of coal block allocation. The existing allocation policy is to be changed to offer alternative coal blocks to those companies who could not bag coal blocks due to lack of clearance from the Union ministry of environment and forests.

“The Government of India proposes to review the present policy of coal block allocation”, Union minister of state for coal Sriprakash Jaiswal told Rajya Sabha MP Renubala Pradhan in a written reply recently. Jaiswal said that the Orissa government had requested the Centre for allocation of ten coal blocks to Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC), but there were no coal blocks on offer for allocation.

Out of 267.21 billion tonnes of total coal reserves in the country, (as on April 1, 2009), coking coal was available in four states while non-coking is available in 11 states including Orissa.

The coal available in the North-Eastern states has high sulphur content, the minister told Pradhan in another reply. The total reserves of coking coal in the country are estimated at 33,412 million tonnes and it is found in three states- Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal.Similarly, total non-coking coal reserves available in 11 states, is estimated at 2.32 lakh million tonnes (mt).

Orissa has the highest quantity of non-coking coal of 65,227 mt followed by Jharkhand (46,674 mt), Chhattisgarh (44,313 mt), West Bengal (27,310 mt), Andhra Pradesh (18,927 mt) Madhya Pradesh (18,794 mt), Maharashtra (10,154 mt) and Uttar Pradesh (1062 mt).

“The total high-sulphur coal available in the North-Eastern region is estimated at 1073 mt. The highest quantity of this variety of coal is found in Meghalaya (577 mt) followed by 384 mt in Assam, 90 mt in Arunachal Pradesh and 22 mt in Nagaland”, the minister told Pradhan.