Business
States to gain Rs.3.35 lakh crore on coal auctions
Kolkata, April 5
Citing the ongoing coal
auctions as a "true example of federalism", union Coal Secretary Anil
Swarup on Sunday said the states will be getting a whopping Rs.3.35 lakh
crore on account of the coal auctions.
"Of the 67 (coal) blocks
auctioned and allotted so far, the states will be getting Rs.3.35 lakh
crore revenue and another Rs.69,000 crore will be unlocked by way of
tariff benefit to the consumers," Swarup told media persons on the
sidelines of an interactive event organised here by the Coal Consumers'
Association of India.
Till the conclusion of the actions held so far, a revenue of nearly Rs.20 lakh crore has been generated.
"This
is a true example of federalism. The entire money generated from the
auctions is going to the states while the union government is organising
the auctions," he said.
Swarup said that although washeries are
featuring in the list of possible bidders for the auction, they will
soon be struck off in a forthcoming amendment to the coal bill.
Until now, 29 blocks have been auctioned and another 38 has been allotted to the state-owned entities.
"We will also allot mines to the individual states for commercial mining," he said.
Further,
the coal department will allot Chhattisgarh and Odisha dedicated mines
to meet their requirements for the sponge iron industry.
For the
next round of auctions due in the third week of April, a total of 16
blocks will be put up for bidding of which 11 will be for the power
sector and the remaining for the "non-regulated sector".