Received letter from MP for cancelling CTL blocks:Minister

Due to unsatisfactory progress, allocatees have been issued show cause notices, says Min of State for coal Pratik Prakashbapu Patil

The government today said it has received a letter from a Parliamentarian, requesting cancellation of two coal blocks allocated to JSPL and Strategic Energy Technology Systems for coal to liquid (CTL) projects.

The government had allocated two coal blocks namely Ramchandi and North of Arkhapal Srirampur in February, 2009, Minister of State for coal Pratik Prakashbapu Patil said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.

"A letter has been received from Dharmendra Pradhan, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha requesting for cancellation of allotment of aforesaid blocks and allotment of these blocks afresh, through competitive bidding route," the Minister said.

He further said that, Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) which reviewed the performance of these blocks recently, noted that no significant progress has been made by the allocatees towards the development of the mines as a number of important/critical milestones were pending.

"Due to unsatisfactory progress, allocatees of both the blocks have been issued show cause notices," Patil added.

It may be recalled that the CBI, in June, had asked Planning Commission for files pertaining to allotment of coal blocks to companies, including like Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) Steel, for turning the coal into liquid fuel.

The agency is probing if the allocations made for the coal-to-liquid (CTL) projects were in any violation of any policy.

"The CBI is conducting preliminary enquiry regarding the allocation of coal blocks to private companies...Including coal blocks for CTL projects.

"In this regard it is requested to furnish the ...Files/records of your office regarding the CTL coal blocks allocated through IMG (Inter-Ministerial Group)," CBI had said in a letter to the Planning Commission.

The Standing Committee on Coal and Steel had also earlier said in a report that it "failed to understand as to why two coal blocks for coal to liquid was allocated to private companies by ignoring the government companies."

It had also pulled up the IMG under Member (Energy) Planning Commission for allegedly not performing its duty honestly.

The Parliamentary Committee had also recommended that the allocation of CTL blocks to two private companies may be examined by the government.