Govt asks 2 more pvt cos to show cause for delay in coal prodn

The Coal Ministry has slapped show cause notices on Rungta Mines and Kohinoor Steel for delaying the production from Mednirai coal block in Jharkhand.
"You are hereby called up to show cause, on each milestone separately to this ministry within a period of 20 days...As to why the delay in the development of the coal block should not be held as violation of the terms and conditions of allocation of Mednirai coal block and why the coal block should not be deallocated," the Coal Ministry said in letter to both the companies.
The ministry also asked the companies to furnish a detailed status note on the progress of end use plant for which the coal block was alloted.

The coal block having geological reserves of 80.83 million tonnes (MT) was jointly allocated to the companies in May, 2009. While Rungta Mines was alloted mine for its power plant, Kohinoor Steel was alloted for its Sponge Iron plant.
The decision to issue show cause notice was taken after the recommendation of the Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG).
"Keeping in view unsatisfactory progress, IMG recommended to issue show cause notice for delay in development of coal block. The recommendation of IMG has since been considered and accepted by the government," the ministry said.
The government had formed the IMG last year to review the progress of coal blocks allocated to firms for captive use and recommend action, including de-allocation.

The panel under the chairmanship of Additional Secretary in the Coal Ministry has members from other ministries including steel and power.