Ask PSUs to ink pacts with Centre for mines: Coal Ministry to States

The Coal Ministry has asked states like Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh to advise the PSUs which have been allocated coal blocks earmarked for mining to enter into pacts with the Centre.

"You are requested to advise the allocatee company/ corporations... to enter into an agreement with the Central Government," the Coal Ministry said in letters to the Chief Secretaries of Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.

In the letters to states of Jharkhand, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, the Coal Ministry has also asked them to advise the companies allocated mines to either form a SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) or joint ventures.

The development follows a Coal Ministry panel agreeing to allocate three coal blocks to mining PSUs including Jharkhand State Mineral Development Corp and MP State Mining Corporation Ltd.

The three coal blocks are part of 17 mines identified bythe Ministry for state-owned companies. It had earlier allocated 14 coal blocks to power sector firms.

The panel, chaired by Coal Secretary, agreed to give Brahmani coal block in Odisha to Orissa Minerals Development Company Ltd (OMDC), Gowa coal block in Jharkhand to Jharkhand State Mineral Development Corp (JSMDC) and Bihar State Mineral Development Corp (BMDC), and Kerwa coal block in Chhattisgarh to Chhattisgarh Mineral Development Corp (CMDC) and MP State Mining Corp.

In all, the Ministry had received 41 applications from 17 state-owned companies for the blocks. Kick-starting the process of coal blocks allocation, the government had in June allocated 14 coal mines to Central and State public sector undertakings (PSUs), including four to NTPC.