Amid calls for allocation to Telangana's PSU, 10th round of commercial coal mine auctions launched

Hyderabad, Jun 21 ( PTI) Union Coal and Mines Minister G Kishan Reddy on Friday launched the 10th round of commercial coal mine auctions here, even as Telangana has requested that coal blocks in the vicinity of state-run Singareni Collieries be allotted to it without having to bid for them.

The 10th round of auction includes 67 coal mines. The 67 coal mines are spread across the states of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, West Bengal and Telangana and include both fully explored and partially explored mines as well as three coking coal mines.

On Thursday, Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka had urged Kishan Reddy, who also hails from Telangana, to allocate coal blocks in the Godavari catchment area to the state-run Singareni Collieries under the reservation quota as per the law, without it having to participate in auctions.

He requested Kishan Reddy to discuss the matter with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. If necessary, the state government is ready to approach the PM collectively with representatives from all parties, Vikramarka had said.

Kishan Reddy said he will look into the issues raised by Vikramarka. The Centre would work in the interest of Singareni, he said.

He also said he would speak to the Odisha government to see that production begins at the Naini coal block (allotted to Singareni earlier). Production has not begun at the block due to various reasons, he said.

In 2022, BRS leaders had accused the BJP-led NDA government of trying to privatise Singareni Collieries. However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had clarified at the time that there is no such proposal before the Centre. The union government does not have any such intention, Modi had said.

The Centre cannot take any decision related to the privatisation of Singareni Collieries as 51 per cent stake is held by the Telangana, Modi had said.

Speaking on the occasion of the auction on Friday, Kishan Reddy favoured reducing coal imports and increasing coal production.

He said 107 coal mines have been successfully auctioned in the previous nine rounds of auction.

An official release earlier said 60 coal blocks would be part of the 10th round of auction.

Highlighting the importance of coal in power production, Kishan Reddy described it as "black gold".

"The vibrant and reform-oriented coal sector is the key to achieving the goals of Aatmanirbhar Bharat," he said.

Since the launch of commercial coal auctions in 2020, the "transparent and fair" auction process has been well received by the industry and all organisations, he said.

The Ministry of Coal is also undertaking several initiatives such as coal gasification.

"In 2024, 997.23 million tons production we achieved. The coal production target for 2024-25 is one billion tons. Of this, 190.38 million tons already we have achieved. Expecting more than 175 million tons from captive commercial mines also," he said.

Kishan Reddy said all coal entrepreneurs should collaborate towards nation’s development and align with the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of making India "aatmanirbhar (self-sufficient)" in coal by making collective efforts and reducing the dependency on coal imports.

The revenue generated from the auctioned coal blocks goes to the respective state governments, officials said.

The Ministry of Coal has taken a series of reforms for rapid pace of growth of coal sector and to ensure that it is able to meet the country’s energy needs, an official release said.

For the 10th tranche also, mines falling under protected areas, wildlife sanctuaries, critical habitats, and those having forest cover greater than 40 per cent, among such others, have been excluded.

The block boundaries of some of the coal mines where there was the presence of dense habitation, high green cover or critical infrastructure have been revised to improve the attractiveness of the coal mines, it said.

Union Minister of State for Coal and Mines Satish Chandra Dubey assured that all the necessary support to the coal block allocatees will be provided by improving the ease of doing business.

In his keynote address, Amrit Lal Meena, Secretary, Ministry of Coal emphasised on enhancing coal production to meet the rising energy demands and underscored that the increase in production must not compromise the safety of workers, stressing the adoption of global best practices to ensure a secure working environment.

He called for robust state-level support to streamline the ease of doing business within the coal sector.

"The coal sector, during the last 10 years, has seen tremendous growth wherein the compound annual growth rates have been almost more than double than that of the previous decade. Last two years, the sector has grown over 11 per cent CAGR. This year, coal production in country has been 997 million ton, almost about one billion ton. With the minister's guidance, we have set a target of 1,080 millon ton of coal production for this year," he said. PTI SJR SJR ANE