Second Round of Coal Auction to be Held on March 4

New Delhi: The government has put off the second round of auction of 21 coal blocks to early next month. The auction of mines in the second tranche was earlier scheduled to begin from Wednesday.

"The auctions (of second lot of coal mines will) begin on March 4," a Coal Ministry official said.

Coal Secretary Anil Swarup tweeted, "Announcement of qualified bidders for Schedule 3 Coal Blocks on March 2. Auctions (of schedule III mines) to be held from March 4-8."

Mr Swarup also tweeted that the entire process of auction of schedule III blocks will be completed by April 2.

The government has already sold 19 coal blocks in the first lot of coal auctions. The auction of the first phase, which began on February 14, was completed on Sunday.

The auction follows the Supreme Court's decision last year to cancel allocation of 204 coal mines.

The mines on offer for schedule III mines are Brinda and Sisai mines in Jharkhand, Durgapur and Taraimar coal blocks in Chhattisgarh, Jamkhani coal block in Odisha, Lohari mine in Jharkhand, Marki Mangli-IV mine in Maharashtra, Nerad Malegaon in Maharastra, Dongrital II (Phase I) mine in MP, Ganeshpur mine in Jharkhand, Jitpur mine in Jharkhand and Mandakini A mine in Odisha.

Other mines on auction are Meral coal block in Jharkhand, Rohne Coal Block in Jharkhand, Utkal C in Odisha, Dumri Block in Jharkhand, Gare Palma IV/8 in Chhattisgarh, Kosara Dongargaon mine in Maharashtra, Mandla South coal block in MP, Moitra coal mine in Jharkhand and Tare mine in Chhattisgarh.

The government has received 130 preliminary bids from companies like Essar Power, Hindalco, Adani Power and Jindal Power for 21 coal blocks on offer in the second tranche of ongoing auction.

The coal auctions in the first phase will fetch the states over Rs 1 lakh crore.

Mr Swarup had earlier tweeted that from the coal block auctions, Chhattisgarh will get the maximum Rs 47,552 crore, followed by Madhya Pradesh (Rs 35,588 crore) and Jharkhand (Rs 12,622 crore).

"States like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal, and MP to benefit the most out of e-auction proceeds," Mr Swarup had earlier tweeted, adding that Rs 1.09 lakh crore of e-auction amount and Rs 12,800 crore would go to states in the next 30 years.

The companies that have bagged blocks in the first phase include Reliance Cement, GMR Chhattisgarh, Hindalco, Sunflag Iron and Steel, Jaiprakash Associates, Jaiprakash Power Ventures, OCL Iron and Steel, Bharat Aluminium, Essar Power MP, Jindal Power and UltraTech Cement.