Sudhir Kant Sahay is honorary executive director of the company

Even as the Coal Ministry on Monday decided to cancel the allocation of the Gourangdih ABC block in West Bengal, owned by Sajjan Jindal’s JSW Steel Ltd. and Himachal EMTA, it delayed action against SKS Ispat, linked to Sudhir Kant Sahay, brother of Union Tourism Minister Subodh Kant Sahay, leading to speculation about political pressure on the issue.

IMG recommends bank guarantee deduction of Tata Power and Hindalco

JSW Steel and Himachal Emta Power today lost a coal block in West Bengal, while Tata Power and Hindalco Industries are likely to lose the bank guarantee for their block in Jharkhand. Today, the government cancelled the allocation of the Gourangdih ABC block in West Bengal’s Raniganj coalfields. Deallocation of the block, being developed by JSW Steel and Himachal Emta Power, was recommended on Friday by an inter-ministerial group (IMG) looking into irregularities in the allocation of coal blocks.

Says reserves to last only four years more

Has Hindalco Industries’ lease for Odisha’s only operational private coal mine been a bonanza or a carefully husbanded and now depleting asset? According to the state mining department, the company has so far excavated about 16 million tonnes from this one, at Talabira in this district. If the calculation of operating margin at Rs 295.41 per tonne of coal indicated in the report of the country’s Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) is taken as reference, Hindalco made a financial gain of Rs 466 crore.

Mulls clause to mandate participation in tariff-based bidding for power

The brouhaha over coal block allocations has goaded the government into correcting the policy imperfections that have long prevailed in India’s coal mining sector. It is planning a clause to make it mandatory for captive miners to take part in tariff-based bidding for power. A few miners have been selling power produced through coal from their captive mines in the open market to make profits. The coal ministry now plans to add the mandatory clause in captive miners’ allotment letters.

The fate of 17 coal blocks is on line as the inter-Ministerial group (IMG), headed by Zohra Chatterjee, is likely to recommend de-allocation for not only their failure to develop the mining assets

Government on Monday ruled out cancellation of any coal block allocation till the inter- ministerial group (IMG), constituted to review the issue, submits its report.

“We have constituted the IMG, which is reviewing 58 coal blocks. It has been asked to submit its report in a time-bound manner and latest by September 15. After that we will decide,” Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal told reporters. He added that “the (number of) coal blocks which have been reviewed and issued show-cause notices so far is 58. Of these 58, 20 are such which have been reviewed by the CAG”.

Govt has already issued notices to 58 blocks: 33 allotted to govt firms & 25 to pvt entities

Amid the raging row over coal block allocation, as many as 90 mines face the threat of de-allocation as these are under scanner for non-production. Of these, 58 coal blocks are in the immediate focus with an Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) set to decide their fate today. The government has already issued de-allocation notices to these 58 blocks - 33 allotted to government firms and 25 to private entities.

Environmental objections were overruled by Empowered Group of Ministers, in the face of expert concerns

New Delhi The axe is likely to fall on about two dozen captive coal block allottees that feature in both the CAG list of companies making windfall gains and the list of entities that were issued show-cause notices by the coal ministry last year for sluggish progress on their respective projects.

Prominent companies, including Tatas, Essar, ArcelorMittal, GVK Power, Hindalco, Grasim Industries, JSW and Bhushan Steel, feature in the list where the coal ministry feels that allocations should be cancelled unless valid ground for delay is established. The ministry has already issued show cause notices to around 58 captive coal block allottees and about 20-24 of them also feature in the CAG list that is being targeted by the ministry for first round of cancellations.

An inter-ministerial panel under the coal ministry will decide the fate of allocation of 17 captive coal blocks allotted to big corporate houses, next week. This is on the back of severe delays in their development. This comes close on the heels of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) investigating the alleged corruption in allocation of blocks.

The coal ministry had recently issued showcause notices to the companies, which own the mining rights of the 17 blocks allocated between 2006 and 2009. Through the notices, the ministry had threatened the companies of cancelling their allotments and sought justifications for the delay.