Before 1st commercial coal mine goes under hammer, govt prunes list of mines

Now a lower number of 38 coal blocks would go under the hammer to the private sector instead of 41 mines identified earlier for the first round of auctions.

The coal ministry has withdrawn five mines: Morga South Coal Mine, Fatehpur East, Madanpur (North), Morga-II, and Sayang Coal Mines from the list of mines that were proposed to be offered for commercial mining.

It has, however added two mines: Dolesara, Jarekela and Jharpalam-Tangarghat (in Chhattisgarh).

"Therefore, 38 coal mines are offered for auction for commercial mining under 11th Tranche of Auction under CM(SP) Act, 2015 and 1st Tranche of Auction under MMDR Act, 1957," a statement from the coal ministry said.

Though no reason has been provided for changes in the list of commercial coal mines, it is largely on technical grounds.

As part of the initiative of opening up of the coal sector and allowing the private sector to commercially extract coal, the government launched the auction process for 41 coal mines on June 18, 2020.