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Govt to decide on 58 coal blocks soon

In the wake of controversies shrouding coal mines allocation, an inter-ministerial panel will decide next week the fate of 58 blocks which the private companies and PSUs failed to develop within allowed time.

The Indian government has already issued de-allocation notices to 35 government firms and 23 private companies which failed to develop the same allotted for captive use in the given time-frame.

‘An Inter-Ministerial Group, headed by Additional Secretary, Coal, Zohra Chatterji will meet on Tuesday or Wednesday to decide on 58 blocks which were served de-allocation notices,’ a top Coal Ministry official said. The official clarified that the blocks, barring a few, are different from those mentioned in the CAG report.

Government auditor CAG in its recent report tabled in Parliament stated that undue benefits to the tune of Rs 1.86 lakh crore were extended to private firms on account of allocation of 57 mines to them.

There were media reports that the government may cancel over 50 blocks mentioned in the CAG report.

Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal, however, said, ‘The blocks were allocated under a process... monitoring the process of blocks development is done regularly and it is wrong to say that these will be cancelled. IMG will review their progress and take a final view on it.’  CBI focusses on firms in ‘fast track’ category.

 
With just two days left for CBI to decide on filing FIRs in the coalgate scam, the bureau is focussing its probe on 12 firms which were given licenses under the 'fast track' category but had not yet commenced mining of the allocated coal blocks.

A CBI team met senior officials in the Indian coal ministry and sought documents pertaining to the 12 coal blocks – nine in central state of Chattisgarh and three in eastern state of Jharkhand – besides action taken by the Ministry after it emerged that the mining work had not started at all, sources said on Thursday.
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