The coal ministry, accepting the demands of the power ministry, has agreed to re-draft the Bill for a regulator for the coal sector by seeking to empower the watchdog to fix prices of coal and including a member from the power sector as a member in the regulatory mechanism.

The Coal Regulatory Authority Bill, 2012 being re-drafted will now be equipped to fix prices of various grades of coal apart from determining the methodologies and policies for finalising prices of both raw and washed coal in line with their calorific values.

With delays plaguing 39 coal mining projects, the coal ministry has decided to approach the Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI) for clearing the hurdles. The newly-formed CCI is expected to take up these projects in its next meeting likely within a fortnight.

In a note to the CCI on December 27, the coal ministry said while delayed environment clearances may wreak havoc on its production plans, there are other bottlenecks which have hampered operations of its planned power projects entailing an investment of nearly Rs 14,000 crore.

With delays plaguing 39 coal mining projects, the coal ministry has decided to approach the Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI) for clearing the hurdles.

The newly-formed CCI is expected to take up these projects in its next meeting likely within a fortnight. In a note to the CCI on December 27, the coal ministry said while delayed environment clearances may wreak havoc on its production plans, there are other bottlenecks which have hampered operations of its planned power projects entailing an investment of nearly Rs 14,000 crore.

The Planning Commission has suggested that the Railways should begin its high-speed rail (HSR) corridor project with the Delhi-Agra section rather than insisting on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor.

In a recent note to a steering group, the Commission has asked the Railways to take up the Delhi-Agra section of the 991 km-long Delhi-Agra-Lucknow-Varanasi corridor, as it would be able to execute the project on a stretch that is barely 200 km as a demonstrative exercise and before developing other corridors.

The steel ministry has said that there is no need to give any discount on the intrinsic value of coal blocks to steel companies to be auctioned through the impending competitive bidding process.

The ministry’s move is in sharp contrast to the power ministry’s demand that the reserve price of coal blocks — to be offered through the bidding route — be set at 90 per cent discount on the intrinsic value of the mine.

The power ministry has told an inter-ministerial panel that the proposed regulator for the coal sector should be equipped with adequate powers to decide upon the prices of the fuel to curb the “profiteering” tendencies of coal companies. It should also be empowered to adjudicate disputes between coal producers and buyers.

Ahead of the next meeting of the Group of Ministers constituted to suggest the powers and functions of the proposed regulator, the ministry contended that while power purchase agreements are regulated by the concerned electricity regulatory commissions, coal companies are not.

New Delhi: In a move that could trigger a fresh controversy over the valuation of natural resources, the Power Ministry has sought that the reserve price of coal blocks to be offered through the competitive bidding route be set at 90 per cent discount on the intrinsic value of the mine.

The demand comes as the Coal Ministry gears up to auction about 54 blocks following the controversy over “notional losses” because of blocks being offered without auctions during 2004-09.

Steel minister Beni Prasad Verma has cautioned environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan against delaying green clearances for SAIL’s iron ore mines in Orissa and Jharkhand. Delays have led to the discontinuation of mining in the predominantly tribal areas, said Verma, cautioning this could trigger law and order problems and stoke naxal activities in these areas.

Verma’s November 30 letter follows SAIL’s top brass cautioning that delays at two SAIL mines — Gua in Jharkhand and Bolani in Orissa — could trigger serious raw material scarcity at its Bokaro plant in Jharkhand and Integrated Steel Plant in West Bengal.

New Delhi Between 2006 and 2009, for a number of relatively obscure firms, getting hold of a coal block was akin to stumbling on a goldmine.

The findings of an internal report conducted by the coal ministry on the allocation of resources to private players show that in order to bag a prized mine, applicants were willing to go to any extreme. Take the case of Shree Veerangana Steels, which was allocated three coal blocks in Yavatmal district in Maharashtra in 2005. This company simply does not exist any more.

The coal ministry has conveyed to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) that it may not be possible to accept Planning Commission’s proposal to institutionalise a price pooling mechanism to encourage i