Govt yet to take call on re-auction of 4 mines sold in phase 1

The government has received a report on re-examination of four coal blocks auctioned during the first phase but is yet to take a final call on whether to re-auction them, sources said today.
These blocks were won by JSPL, Balco and BS Ispat.
The government has received a report on re-examination of four coal blocks - Gare-Palma-IV/2, Gare-Palma-IV/3, Gare-Palma-IV/1, all in Chhattisgarh and Marki Mangli-III in Maharashtra auctioned during the first phase, a source said.
Sources said the government may go for re-auction of these blocks.
However another highly placed source, when asked about re-auction of these mines said, "Government has not taken a view in the matter as yet."

After complaints pertaining to these mines including questions on bidding price, the government has asked nominated authority to re-examine them.

The government had recently auctioned 19 coal blocks in the first tranche and 14 out of 15 in the second tranche, garnering a huge over Rs 2 lakh crore revenue.
Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL) was the successful bidder for Gare Palma IV 2 and Gare Palma IV 3 mines, while Balco successfully bid Gare Palma IV/1 mine and BS Ispat bagged Marki Mangli III mine.
Balco had won Gare Palma IV/1 block at Rs 1,585 a tonne, Jindal Power won Gare Palma IV/2&3 at Rs 108 and tonne and BS Ispat won Marki Mangli III block at Rs 918 a tonne.

The coal auction kitty yesterday crossed Rs two lakh crore mark surpassing CAG's estimate of Rs 1.86 lakh crore lost due to allocating mines without auction during the previous regimes.
Coal Minister Piyush Goyal said that "the transparent e-auction of 32 coal blocks, out of 204 cancelled coal blocks, has already yielded potential e-auction revenues, royalties and upfront payments of Rs 2.07 lakh crores, which is far in excess of CAG loss estimate of Rs 1.86 lakh crore.
On the fifth day of the second tranche of coal blocks auctions yesterday, two mines - Utkal C in Odisha and Lohari in Jharkhand were estimated to have fetched 11,741 crore.

The auctions were necessitated after the Supreme Court in September last year cancelled allocations of 204 blocks.