September 07, 2008

Centre receives 185 applications for 23 coal blocks

BS reported that union government has received 185 applications from various steel, cement, aluminum and iron companies for the 23 coal blocks earmarked for captive mining. With total reserves estimated at around 3 billion tonnes, these blocks are situated in Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh and applicants include TATA Steel, ACC, Jindal Steel and Power, Ultratech Cement, JSW Steel, JK Cement.

The screening committee of the coal ministry, headed by Mr HC Gupta union coal secretary, would be meeting on December 7th to 8th 2007 and December 17th to 18th 2007 for screening these applications.

The screening committee has representatives from the power, steel and environment and forests ministries, as well as from the state governments of Orissa, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, West Bengal and Maharashtra.

According to a coal ministry official, the steel sector will be allocated 6 blocks while 9 blocks are meant for the cement sector and remaining blocks will be shared between sponge iron and aluminum firms.

This round of allocation follows the allocation of 15 captive blocks, with estimated reserves of around 3.5 billion tonnes, to 31 power sector companies 2 months ago. 8 out of the 15 blocks were allotted on a sharing basis, while the remaining 7 blocks were given on a stand alone basis.