Headlines
Coal auction: Essar wins mine, states gain Rs.60,000 crore
New Delhi, Feb 18
On day five of the auction
of coal blocks whose allotments were cancelled by the Supreme Court, the
Essar Group won its first mine, even as poorer states stand to gain
nearly Rs.60,000 crore from blocks sold in the ongoing auction.
"Essar
Power MP Ltd won the Tokisud North mine (Jharkhand) for the power
sector. The price at which the mine closed was Rs.1,110 per tonne," a
coal ministry official said here Wednesday.
With the highest bid
for the block, Essar beat companies like Adani Power, Jindal Power,
Balco, D B Power, Dhariwal Infrastructure, GMR Chhattisgarh Energy, GVK
Power Goindwal Sahib and Jaiprakash Power Ventures.
States
including Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and West Bengal are to get around
Rs.59,000 crore from blocks sold in the ongoing auction.
"These
are estimates. The revenue to be accrued to the states would be to the
tune of about Rs.59,000 crore and this we are taking for about 11 mines
(auctioned till Tuesday)," Coal Secretary Anil Swarup told reporters.
Wednesday also saw Gare Palma IV/5 block in Chhattisgarh on offer.
GMR
Chhattisgarh Energy, Reliance Cement, Sunflag Iron and Steel, CESC,
Hindalco Industries, Jaiprakash Associates and BALCO are among the
companies that bagged 11 coal mines in the previous four days of
auction.
The government has put 19 blocks on sale in the first
lot. The last day for the auction of the first lot of mines is Feb 22.
The Supreme Court had in September last year cancelled the allotment of
214 mines allotted between 1993 and 2010.