The Hindu Business Line : Pvt sector in coal mining: Govt yet to constitute GoM

The proposal to allow coal mining on a non-captive basis and exploration for new reserves by private and public sector companies continues to be in limbo as the Government has not been able to constitute a Group of Ministers (GoM) to go into the draft Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill 2000.

The fate of the Amendment Bill, prepared by the erstwhile NDA Government, remains uncertain though the Coal Ministry has urged the Cabinet Secretariat to set up a GoM for this matter since the earlier GoM ceased to exist following change in Government in 2004, sources said.

The Bill proposes to allow Indian companies, both in the private and public sectors, to mine coal without the existing restrictions of captive mining and to undertake exploration of coal with the aim of bridging the gap between demand and supply gap.

However, opposition from the Left parties and trade unions had forced the BJP-headed Government to go slow.

The Bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha in April 24, 2000. The Rajya Sabha had then referred the Bill to the Standing Committee on Energy for study and its recommendations.

Following the committee's recommendations, the Bill was reintroduced in Parliament and met with steep opposition from the Left parties and trade unions, which threatened to go on strike. They demanded withdrawal of the Bill.

In order to go further into the matter, the Vajpayee Government set up a GoM whose terms of reference included, among others, the demand for withdrawal of the Bill.

The progress of the much-awaited amendment Bill opening up the coal sector for private participation sans restrictions of captive use had come to a halt since then.

Official sources said that the GoM as well as the Minister for Coal had held a series of meetings in this regard with the trade unions. The trade unions were assured that the Bill would not be moved without taking them into confidence.

However, the GoM could not finalise its recommendations over a four-year period during which the NDA Government had eight Coal Ministers.

"With the change in Government, the GoM has ceased to exist and a new decision would now be required to take it forward. The Coal Ministry had asked the Cabinet Secretariat last May to immediately constitute a GoM to recommend on the matter and a response is still awaited," sources said.