New Delhi, Sept. 8: The coal ministry has decided to issue show-cause notices to various coal companies to de-allocate 93 coal and four lignite blocks for not making sincere efforts for the development of these blocks for the past several years.
The decision was taken at a high-level meeting recently held in the ministry. Out of these 93 coal blocks, 45 belong to government sector companies while 48 belong to the private sector companies. All the four lignite blocks belong to the private sector companies.
These coal firms were issued several reminders also in the past. So far, the government has allocated 207 coal blocks for the dev-elopment of coal resources.
Last year, the government had issued notices to 81 companies that included ArcelorMittal, GVK Power and Jindal Steel and Power on delaying the development of the blocks allocated to them. ArcelorMittal India and GVK Power have been allocated blocks in Jharkhand.
“In view of the increasing demand for coal, the government is making all efforts to enhance production through fast-track development of coal blocks. The de-allocation drive is part of this process,” said a coal ministry official.
India produced about 532 million tonnes of coal in 2009-10 and aims to cross the 600 million tonnes mark in 2010-11.
However, the demand-supply gap is likely to be in the range of 80 million tonnes. Last year government had cancelled the coal linkages for 25 captive power plants.