On the day when Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered two new FIRs in the Coalgate scam, the Coal Ministry on Tuesday slapped show cause notices on 12 firms including state-owned NTPC, SAIL and Damodar Valley Corporation along with Bhushan Steel and Power, West Bengal Power Development Corporation threatening to cancel the allocation of their coal blocks. The show cause has asked the 12 firms to explain their failure to develop the coal blocks allocated to them by June 30, failing which their coal assets would face de-allocation. “You are hereby called upon to show cause, on each milestone separately, to this Ministry within a period of 20 days as to why the delay in the development of the coal block should not be held as violation of the terms and conditions of the allotment, failing which action as appropriate would be taken against your company for de-allocation,” the notice states. The decision to issue show cause notices to the 12 firms comes close on the heels of the Coal Ministry issuing similar show cause notices to 11 firms including Naveen Jindal owned Jindal Steel and Power limited, Monnet Ispat and GVK Power last week for not developing the mines allocated to them for captive use. Apart from NTPC and SAIL, which were issued show cause notices for failing to develop Talaipalli block and Sitanala coking coal block, the firms which were issued notices included TVNL, Damodar Valley Corporation, Bhushan Steel and Power, West Bengal Power Development Corporation and Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra State Mining Corporations. Other firms who were issued notices included Abhijit Infrastructure, Rungta Mines, OCL India and Ocean Ispat Ltd. The Coal Ministry said while NTPC failed to commence power generation from Talaipalli block allocated to it in January 2006 by March 2012 as scheduled, the SAIL failed to meet the milestone of developing the Sitanala block. The notices to firms were issued for 12 blocks including Gondulpara, Jamkhani, Brinda, Sasai, Meral, Radhikapur (West), Gangaramchak, Gangaramchak Bhadulia, Marki Barka and Warora coal blocks allocated between June 2003 and July 2007. A major condition of allocation was that coal production from captive block shall commence within 36 months in case of open cast mine and in 48 months in case of underground mine from the date of allocation letter. During the review meetings in the Coal Ministry, the progress of these firms in developing the coal mines was found unsatisfactory. The Ministry also sought a detailed status note on the progress of end use plant by the companies which were allocated mines. As per Coal Ministry officials, the IMG had decided that show cause notices would be issued to 30 coal block allocattees. The latest crackdown is part of the government's exercise to ensure that the allocated blocks do not remain unproductive. Last year, in a similar exercise, the government had issued show cause notices to 58 coal block allocattees and de-allocated blocks of some developers. It also deducted bank guarantees for some others.