Govt to auction eight coal blocks in next round: Coal secy

The fourth round of coal mines auction will be notified on Friday, Coal Secretary Anil Swaroop told media. This time eight blocks will be auctioned, and due date for bids is fixed for December 31, Swaroop said."Commencement of sale of tender document will start from December 31 while the vesting order by the nominated authority to successful bidders will be issued by March 10," the secretary said.The government has already mobilised over Rs 3 lakh crore in the first three rounds of coal auction and allotment."It has been decided to auction eight Schedule III coal mines earmarked for non-regulated sectors like, iron and steel, cement and captive power plants in the fourth tranche. The e-auction for these mines will be held from January 18 to January 22, 2016," Coal Secretary Anil Swarup said addressing the media here. the coal secreatry also said coal production for this fiscal is up 9 percent and has crossed the 300 MT mark.he coal blocks to be put under the hammer include Brahmapuri and Suliyari in Madhya Pradesh, Bundu and Gondulpura in Jharkhand, Gondkhari and Khappa & Extn in Maharashtra and Jaganathpur A and Jaganathpur B in West Bengal.These mines together have reserves totaling 1,143.42 MT and their peak rated capacity stands at 12.86 MT. Asked how much the government plans to raise from this fresh round of auction, the Secretary said the same depends on the response from bidders. Swarup said 34 blocks had been allocated or auctioned under Schedule II (either producing or likely to produce mines), of which one is under litigation and seven of them have recorded over 5-MT output. The rest, he said, are likely to start production as soon as all issues concerning clearances, stamp duty etc have been addressed after Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviews their progress. Vesting orders have been issued to successful bidders and mining leases have been granted in 29 cases whilethe remaining four will be given the same soon.Meanwhile, fair trade regulator CCI has asked Coal India to examine afresh its spot e-auction scheme to obviate possible violation of competition norms even as the watchdog rejected a complaint of unfair business practices against the state-owned miner.(With inputs from PTI)