The Centre will invite participation from State Government-run commercial miners from the fourth phase of the ongoing coal block auction that is scheduled to be completed in June.

Addressing an interactive session organised by the city-based Coal Consumers’ Association of India (CCAI), on Sunday; Coal Secretary Anil Swarup said that as in the past two rounds, the third phase of auction would give priority to captive users in the power sector.

Of the 16 blocks scheduled to be offered in the next round of auction in the third week of April, 11 are reserved for the power generation sector and the rest for captive users in the non-regulated sectors like cement and steel.

“The demands of the power sector will be taken care of in the third round. From the next round onwards we will offer more assets to other sectors,” Swarup said.

On State-run mining entities, he said that initially the coal-bearing States would be given priority.

Commercial mining by State-run entities was declared illegal by the Supreme Court last year. But the recently enacted Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Act has again allowed commercial mining by them.

While the Centre is not inclined to dictate terms on coal sales to such entities, Swarup said that State entities would be expected to meet the demands of small consumers (like ferroalloys industry in Odisha and Chhattisgarh). Central PSU Coal India would focus on large buyers.

Lowering the bar

Meanwhile, the Centre is lowering the eligibility criteria for the captive user segment in the next rounds.

In the first round, when ready-to-operate mines were allotted, the prospective bidders were expected to have invested 80 per cent of the promised sum in end-use facility. The bar was lowered to 60 per cent in the second phase.

Swarup said it will be further lowered in the next round to attract wider participation.

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