Coal Secretary S K Srivastava in a conference today said there are many issues to be resolved for the auction to take place. Mr Srivastava said the inter-ministerial panel is looking into all the aspects and "hopefully within a period of next 10-15 days, we will be able to arrive at some common ground”.
The biggest issue being mulled by the inter-ministerial group (IMG) is whether coal ministry should get the environment and forest clearance before any coal block is put in for auction. Source say a process similar to the process followed by petroleum ministry for bidding of oil & gas blocks may be followed. Petroleum ministry obtains all the clearances beforehand before offering blocks for bidders.
Coal secretary said that all the issues "requires lot of deliberations and we are in touch with environment ministry on whether there can be a thing like conceptually providing in-principle approval. However, we are still to arrive at a final view.
The other issue that is being discussed in the IMG is the issue of base price for the coal blocks and whether specific sector should get any discount or not. Also the issue of whether the already explored blocks should attract higher base price or not is also being considered. Coal Secretary was referring to the 12 coal blocks out of 54 block which are already explored. Also the issue of discount in base price came up because of some of the coal blocks earmarked only for power sector which can supply electricity at affordable rates.
The IMG is also looking into the suggestions made by consulting firm Crisil, which was appointed for submitting a report in auctioning of coal blocks.
The issue of coal blocks not been allocated through a transparent bidding process was highlighted by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in its recent report. The CAG report that was tabled in the Parliament alleged that govt incurred loss of Rs.1.86 lakh crore as 57 coal blocks were awarded to private firms at throw away prices.
After the CAG report expectations of bidding process to be in place went up. Coal secretary told NDTV that the inter-ministerial group that is looking into the whole issue of auctioning met about five time, however key issues are yet to be addressed. The IMG consist of Coal, Power, Petroleum and Steel Ministries apart from Department of Industries and Planning commission are part of the IMG.
Essential Business Intelligence, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice, Daily Fuel, Gold and Silver Prices and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.
