Ministry of Coal today launched the 10th tranche of commercial coal mine auctions and a total of 67 coal mines are offered. Union Minister of Coal and Mines, Shri G. Kishan Reddy launched the 10th tranche of commercial coal mine auctions at Hyderabad in the presence of Shri Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, Deputy Chief Minister of Telangana and Shri Satish Chandra Dubey, Minister of State for Coal and Mines.
These 67 coal mines are spread across the states of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, West Bengal and Telangana and include both fully explored and partially explored and 3 coking coal mines.
The Ministry of Coal has taken a series of reforms to ensure that the coal sector grows at a rapid pace and is able to meet the country’s energy needs. For 10th Tranche also, mines falling under protected areas, wildlife sanctuaries, critical habitats, having forest cover greater than 40%, heavily built-up area, etc. have been excluded. The block boundaries of some of the coal mines where there was presence of dense habitation, high green cover or critical infrastructure, etc. have been revised to improve the attractiveness of the coal mines.
Addressing the gathering, Union Minister of Coal and Mines, Shri G. Kishan Reddy, emphasized the critical role of coal as the lifeline for all industries and its pivotal contribution in achieving a 5 trillion-dollar economy. He stressed that all coal entrepreneurs should collaborate towards nation’s development and align with the vision of Prime Minister of making India Aatmanirbhar in coal by making collective efforts and reducing the dependency on coal imports. He reiterated the importance of enhancing domestic coal production for India’s economic growth. It is crucial to work towards advancing in coal sector and our efforts today will make the future brighter. It was also informed that the revenue generated from the auctioned coal blocks goes to the respective State Government.
Deputy Chief Minister of Telangana, Shri Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka appreciated the efforts of Ministry of coal which has been working diligently to make the country self-sufficient in coal sector by significantly reducing foreign imports and producing nearly 1 Billion Tonne (BT) of coal in last financial year meeting the nation’s energy needs.