Govt to begin second round of coal block auction on March 4

The second round of auction of 21 coal blocks, scheduled for Wednesday, would be held on March 4, a coal ministry official said on Tuesday. 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."

The decision comes after Sarda Energy filed a petition in Delhi High Court which will be heard on Friday. Sarda had been disqualified from bidding for six blocks by the Centre, which had said that the company had clubbed its subsidiary company along with parent company to increase its coal requirement instead of making a joint venture.

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.

Already, 19 blocks have been sold in the first lot of auction. The auction of the first phase, which began on February 14, was completed on Sunday. The auction follows the Supreme Court decision last year to cancel allocation of 204 coal mines. The coal auctions in the first phase will fetch the states over Rs 1 lakh crore.