Odisha urges Centre to postpone coal block auction by three months

The Odisha Government requested the Central Government to defer the coal block auction process by three months in view of the unfavourable market situation due to the COVID-19 outbreak

The Odisha Government on Tuesday requested the Central Government to defer the coal block auction process by three months in view of the unfavourable market situation due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

In a letter to Union Coal Minister Prahlad Joshi, State Steel and Mines Minister Prafulla Mallik said, "The coal trading has been adversely affected by COVID-19 outbreak, the market value of coal has significantly gone down in comparison to the last year."

"If the auction process will be allowed at this time then the government may not be able to get better price of natural mineral resources as there are chances that the highest bidding price for these mine blocks will be low. A poor response to the auction will have a negative impact on the state's revenue collection from the coal sector for long as the lease period of coal blocks is 30 years," he added.

Nine of the total 41 coal mines listed by the Central Government for auction for Commercial Mining are from Odisha and around 10,750 million tonnes of coal are reserved in these blocks.

The last date for the submission of the bid is September 29 and the e-auction will be held from October 19 to November 9, 2020, for coal mines.