Govt asks coal block owners to take necessary steps to operationalise mines

The government on Tuesday asked coal block owners to take necessary steps to operationalise mines that are at an advanced stage of commissioning.

In FY24, India might produce 145 Million Tonnes (MT) of coal from commercial and captive blocks, that would help bring down the country's import of fossil fuel.

M Nagaraju, Additional Secretary and Nominated Authority, Ministry of Coal, chaired a review meeting of producing and expected to produce captive and commercial coal mines during 2023-24.

During the meeting, Nagaraju asked the companies allotted coal blocks to take necessary steps to achieve production target of the current fiscal.

"The total coal production from captive/commercial coal mines during April 1, 2023 to November 20, 2023 was around 80 MT, indicating a year-on-year growth of 23 per cent from the same period of FY 2022-23," the coal ministry said in a statement.
 

'Coal blocks put on sale through transparent mechanism'
 

The coal ministry on Wednesday clarified that post-cancellation of 204 blocks in the year 2014, the mines are being put on auction via a "transparent" mechanism.
 

The clarification comes a day after Congress alleged that the Narendra Modi government reversed the long-standing policy of competitive auction for coal block allocation and gave away lucrative fields to the Adani Group.

auctioned through a transparent mechanism and for various end uses power and non-regulated sectors," the ministry said in a release.
 

The coal ministry further said that no correlation has been established between Cavill Mining Pvt Ltd and Adani Group.
 

"Also, as per the provisions of the tender document, the affiliate shall mean, a person who, directly or indirectly controls such bidder; is Controlled by such Bidder; is Controlled by the same person, who directly or indirectly, controls such Bidder; or is an associate company of such Bidder," it said.
 

In this case, it cannot be established that Cavill Mining Pvt Ltd is an affiliate of Adani Group.
 

"Furthermore, in case a misrepresentation has been found at any stage of the auction process, the Ministry of Coal has a right to take appropriate actions as per clause 5.12 of the tender document," the coal ministry said.