Bhubaneswar: Targeted by the Centre on Coalgate issue, chief minister Naveen Patnaik today questioned allocation of coal blocks to certain companies which do not have any stake in the state.

The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Centre on a public interest suit seeking to quash the allotment of 194 coal blocks to private companies in six states. The government will have to respond to six questions from the court. Solicitor General R F Nariman accepted the notice and the case would be heard after two months.

The court has asked the government to produce the guidelines and the process adopted for the allocation of blocks. It also wants to know if there are any in-built mechanisms to ensure the allocations do not lead to distribution of largesse unfairly to a few private firms.

Jindal, who is facing the heat for being allotted large coal blocks, says it is wrong to call him beneficiary

New Delhi The power ministry has framed new bidding guidelines to prevent private firms with cheap captive coal mines selling power at steep rates in the open market and reaping windfall profits. Speaking at the Idea Exchange programme of the Express group, power minister Veerappa Moily said the guidelines would require companies in all segments — ultra mega, captive and merchant — generating power to participate in bidding for selling electricity.

The minister said there would be no large-scale coal block cancellations, assuring the money lent by the banks to power companies would be safe. Moily said the new bidding guidelines would resolve the immediate problems in the coal and power sector.

Probing into coal block allocations between 2006 and 2009, the CBI is examining the case of Jindal Photo Limited.

The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) is investigating a complaint that Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) has sunk almost 400 borewells to source water for its mega steel and power plant in Angul, Odisha, instead of drawing water from the Brahmani river, as stipulated in its environment clearance. The company admits it has not yet completed its pipeline to the river, but claims that it is running a 135 MW power plant using collected rainwater instead.

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.

New Delhi: Naveen Jindal, promoter of Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL), came under heavy artillery fire from the opposition for charging higher tariff for power he generates from the Raigarh p

Deal Size 23000cr, Losing Bid Was By PSU Under Mantri

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