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November 7, 2016

Seven of 67 auctioned coal mines begin operatio

Operations have commenced in seven of the 67 coal mines that were auctioned or allotted by the government, while the remaining blocks are at various stages of development.

“Out of the 67 coal mines successfully auctioned/allotted, seven coal mines have been granted mine operating permission and are operational. Rest are at various stages of development,” power and coal minister Piyush Goyal told the Lok Sabha in a written reply on Thursday.

The minister said at this stage it was not possible to estimate the yield from all the 204 coal mines, the allocations of which were cancelled. Many of the de-allocated mines are regionally or partly explored and mine plans are not available in all cases of explored coal mines.

In another reply, Goyal said the government has taken proactive measures to ensure that statutory clearances, including environment and forest, are transferred to the successful bidders and allottees expeditiously.

“So far, out of a total of 67 coal mines successfully auctioned and allotted, vesting/allotment orders have been issued in respect of 45 coal mines. Out of these 45 coal mines, environment clearances have been transferred in favour of successful bidder/allottee for 37 coal mines.”

Forest clearance has been transferred in favour of successful bidder/allottee of 25 coal mines. In respect of seven coal mines, no forest clearance is involved and in respect of five mines, transfer of forest clearance is not required as the prior allottees are the successful bidders/allottees.

The Centre has taken up the matter of expediting various clearances with the concerned state governments and has been pursuing with the authorities concerned for bringing the auctioned/alloted mines into production as soon as possible, he said.

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