Sixteen coal blocks up for grab

Going ahead with its decision to open up the coal sector for commercial mining perhaps for the first time in over 40 years, the government is throwing open the coal sector for commercial mining. On this core, the government this month is inviting proposals from public sector undertakings for the allotment of 16 mines, said sources claiming that these blocks are on offer to PSUs for carrying out production and sale of the dry fuel. It also recently said that it will ensure that coal demand of states, PSUs and small players is fully met before opening the sector for commercial mining by private companies. Of the 16 blocks "earmarked for State Public sector Undertakings for sale of coal, five mines are in Madhya Pradesh, three in Telangana, two blocks each in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Maharashtra, and one each in Odisha and West Bengal. Of these, eight have been identified for the host states. The blocks that have been earmarked include Shankarpur Bhatgaon II Extension and Madanpur South in Chhattisgarh; Patal East and Mednirai in Jharkhand; Dahegaon/ Makard hokra- IV and Kosar Dongergaon in Maharashtra; Baitarni West in Odisha. They also include Penagaddppa, Anesttipali and Punkula-Chilka in Telangana, Gourangdih ABC in West Bengal, Sahapur East and Sahapur West, Suliyari, Dongri Tal-II and Marki Barka mine in Madhya Pradesh are the other mines. The decision to open up coal sector is in line with the government's target of doubling coal production to 1.5 billion tonnes by 2020 as it has fixed a target of 1 billion tonne of production of coal India by 2020.