PMO asks coal ministry to expedite 3rd round auction

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), which reviewed the performance of the coal ministry, has directed it to expedite the process of third round of mines auction.

In a meeting on Monday chaired by Principal Secretary to Prime Minister, Nripendra Mishra, reportedly said that as the government is aiming to increase the domestic coal production, the ministry should take steps to start another round of auction.

Though the coal ministry earlier said it will conduct third round auction by the end of April, it has deferred due to various reasons.

The meeting also reviewed the steps taken by the ministry to meet the coal production target of 1 billion tonnes by 2020. “Besides, the status of the Coal India projects facing delays was reviewed,” the source said.

The government recently auctioned coal blocks in two phases, which garnered over Rs 2 lakh crore from just 29 blocks, surpassing the presumptive loss of Rs 1.86 lakh crore estimated earlier by government auditor CAG for allotment of mines without auction.