The government has decided to auction four coal blocks in the Talcher region of Odisha, having a total reserve of 2.33 billion tonne, or about five times that of Coal India’s output last year, to power utilities.
The auction would be done as per the ‘Auction by Competitive Bidding of Coal Mines Rules 2012’. Accordingly, companies which have been awarded power projects through competitive bidding for tariff, would be allowed to participate.
“The government proposes to allocate coal blocks to companies awarded power project on the basis of competitive bids for tariffs. Accordingly, applications are invited from the eligible government companies and corporations through respective state governments as per rules of the Auction by Competitive Bidding of Coal Mines Rules, 2012,” a letter of coal ministry issued on Friday said.
The blocks notified for auction are Karadabahal, Brahmanbil and Phulajhari (east and west) spread over an aggregate area of 19 sq km.
This is the second round of coal blocks being put up for auction ever since the government notified the auction in February 2012.
Last December, the coal ministry had put up the first list of 17 blocks following which mines were allocated to companies like Orissa Mineral Development Corp and also states of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.
The ministry is also in the process of allocating blocks to Maharashtra, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Karnataka, West Bengal, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Jammu & Union Kashmir.
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