Third round of coal auction takes off; JSPL, others in race

Govt has so far auctioned 29 coal blocks in two tranches to private companies and garnered over Rs 2 lakh cr

The third phase of coal auction started today, with companies such as Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL) and Godawari Natural Resources queuing up for the two mines on offer on Day 1.

Before the auction began, Coal Secretary Anil Swarup tweeted: "Auction of Bhaskarpara and Marki Mangli 1 coal blocks to commence from 1100 hours today."

After clearing the technical bidding stage, JSPL, Crest Steel and Power Pvt, Godawari Natural Resources, Grace Industries, Lloyds Metals and Energy and Topworth Urja & Metals became eligible to bid for these two blocks -- Bhaskarpara in Chhattisgarh and Marki Mangli-I in Maharashtra.

While extractable reserves of Marki Mangli-I mine are 9.96 million tonnes (MT), the figure for Bhaskarpara is 24.06 MT.

Chitarpur mine in Jharkhand will be on the block tomorrow while Parbatpur Central mine in Jharkhand and Majra in Maharashtra are marked for Thursday.

The schedule for the auction of Jamkhani coal mine in Odisha will be announced at a later date due to a court case.

"Pursuant to the Delhi High Court case, the schedule for e-auction of Jamkhani coal mine shall be announced at a later date," the Coal Ministry said on its website.

Last week, 22 applications from companies, including Hindalco, Vedanta, JSW Steel and SAIL, had cleared the initial stage.

The government had earlier said it will auction 10 coal mines for steel, cement as well as captive power plants.

It has so far auctioned 29 coal blocks in two tranches to private companies and garnered over Rs 2 lakh crore, surpassing CAG's loss estimate of Rs 1.86 lakh crore in allotment of mines earlier without auction.