Notification soon to invite PSUs for coal block allocations

The Coal Ministry has informed the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) that it would soon issue notification inviting offers from the public sector for allocation of identified coal blocks.
    
The Coal Ministry has formed an inter-ministerial panel to look into applications from government companies for allocation of coal blocks. "Secretary, Coal apprised (the PMO) that the proposed rules for allocation, criteria for comparative evaluation etc are to be comprehensively discussed in a meeting on December
20.
    
"Immediately thereafter, MoC would be issuing notification inviting offers from public sector for allocation of identified coal mines," a top official in the Coal Ministry said quoting an official document. The Coal Ministry had in May identified 54 mines for allocation. Of these, 16 are earmarked for government firms, 16 for power sector and 22 for allocation through auction route.
     
Soon after its formation, the inter-ministerial panel met for the first time on December 20 to discuss the mechanism for allotting coal mines to public sector firms.
    
The 14-member panel, headed by Coal Secretary A K Srivastava, in its first meeting, also discussed the eligibility criteria for coal block applicants.
    
The committee has representatives from Power, Steel, Law & Justice and Planning Commission, among others, the Coal Ministry had earlier said. The panel would co-opt the representatives of the concerned state governments where the coal block and the end-use plant would be located, the ministry added.