7 Allocations During NDA Tenure In List. New Delhi: The government may be standing firm against scrapping coal block allotments to private companies but a high-level official panel for monitoring progress in these mines is pitching for largescale de-allocation to “defuse the current crisis” over Coalgate. “Out of the 90 coal blocks allocated to private players since 1993, 60 coal blocks with 6.7 billion tonnes (estimated reserves) valued at nearly Rs 2 lakh crore can be cancelled due to lack of progress as ascertained by ministry of coal in the meeting of January 2012,” says a note for the interministerial group’s (IMG) meeting likely on Monday. What makes the meeting crucial is the suggestion in the note, drafted after two meetings of the group, that it “meets once again and recommends cancellation of all coal blocks that are not likely to produce coal by March 2013 due to lack of progress”. The IMG under Zohra Chatterjee, additional secretary in the coal ministry, is in the process of deciding the fate of allocations amid a political crisis over the CAG’s damning report on coal block allocations. COAL ARITHMETIC Of 99 coal blocks allotted to private players since 1993, no work has been done in 60, as per coal ministry’s assessment in Jan 2012 These no-progress blocks include 53 allotted during UPA regime (2004 onwards) and 7 in NDA's tenure (1998-2004) Undue benefit to pvt parties, according to CAG methodology, is 1.85 lakh crore in 53 UPA regime blocks and 12,421 crore in the 7 blocks allotted by NDA Largest open cast mine stuck for land India’s largest open cast coal mine and its largest source of power-grade coal, Gevra in Chhattisgarh’s Korba district, may soon run out as land acquisition for expansion has been hanging since 2001. Villagers demand a job each for those giving up their land but South Eastern Coalfields Ltd has rejected it. SECL had estimated that an additional 6 sq km would boost output to 35 million tonnes a year. P 11 Govt contradicts itself on delay The government’s stand that the delay in mining by some private companies was due to lack of statutory clearances (environmental and others) is contradicted by what the coal ministry told the comptroller and auditor general: that the companies lacked expertise and their attempt to find a foreign partner failed as the latter wanted a stake in the output which was not allowed by the ministry. P 11 Cancel underground blocks too: Note New Delhi: A discussion paper prepared by an inter-ministerial group has suggested that “60 blocks having reserves (6.7 billion tonnes) cited by CAG can be cancelled and handed over to Coal India for development immediately as the present allocattees (sic) have not concluded land acquisition”. “To compensate the regulated sectors (power plants) which have been set up on the basis of these blocks, linkage from Coal India may be granted and fuel supply agreements signed as per policy. This will ensure that the developers do not get affected and investments in end-use plants do not get stranded and investor sentiment is not affected,” the note says. This, sources said, is also the line of thinking of the Prime Minister’s Office. Such an action would help blunt charges of windfall gains since consumers would get coal at Coal India’s price. “The other sectors always retain the option of participating in competitive bidding for coal blocks or importing coal to fulfill their requirements,” the note says. The note also says similar cancellations can be done in case of 20 underground blocks. These blocks were dropped from the federal auditor’s final report on the coal ministry’s plea that such mines were not profitable. The tardy pace — or complete absence — of development in most of the blocks has added to the perception of sleaze. Failure to start mining even years after allocation undercuts the government’s defence that it had to quickly meet rising coal demand and could not have waited till the auction regime was implemented through changes in law. CBI sends teams to C’garh, J’khand CBI teams have gone to Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand to re-inspect some controversial coal blocks in connection with its probe into alleged irregularities in allocation and utilization. But the agency said the teams were there only as part of CBI’s ongoing preliminary enquiry (PE) and were not conducting raids. The agency is likely to register more than one case against private firms which benefitted from the scam. TNN