The 19 mines that have been auctioned, including two - Gare Palma IV/2&3 - that were sold together will help add ₹ 1.09 lakh crore to revenues of state governments like Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Maharashtra. This is from the e-auction proceeds over the course of the mine life.

In addition, the states will also benefit from ₹ 12,801 crore of royalty income. All the mines auctioned so far are producing mines. The auctioning of ready to produce mines starts on February 25.

“We are aware of the fact that the ready to produce mines may see some lower bids as the mining infrastructure over here is not ready,” a senior coal ministry official had said earlier.

In the first round 23 mines were to be auctioned initially. However, Gotitoria (East) & (West) had to be withdrawn due to litigation from the previous allocate and Marki Mangli I and Parbatpur Central did not receive enough technical bids.

The mines that have been withdrawn from the auction list are likely to be handed over to a custodian as per the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Second Ordinance, 2014, said A K Bhalla, Additional Secretary, Ministry for Coal.

Minister for Power, Coal and New and Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal said on Monday that apart from the revenue being accrued to the states, the Ministry estimates an additional ₹ 30,000 crore of value will be generated through the reduction in tariffs. “It will be up to the state electricity regulators and discoms to pass it on to the customers,” said Goyal.

TABLE 1:- Coal block auctions

(* indicates power sector block)

(Source: Ministry for Coal)

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