CIL finds no merit in Steel Min’s proposal to auction BCCL mines
In its revised draft National Steel Policy 2012, the steel ministry has proposed that Bharat Coking Coal Ltd, which is the custodian and operator of coking coal mines, should be de-merged from parent firm CIL and its idle mines should be offered to home-grown integrated steel plants for commercial exploitation, with suitable terms and conditions.
At present, BCCL operates 81 coal mines, including 40 underground, 18 open cast and 23 mixed mines. It has registered over 30 million tonne of coal production and has targeted nearly 40 MT by the end of the twelfth plan period. The company, which is a subsidiary of CIL, was declared sick in 2009.
Both the coal ministry and CIL see “no merit” in the steel ministry’s proposal, claiming, instead, that steel PSUs like SAIL or Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd or even their private counterparts do not have the technological wherewithal to operate underground mines.
“How does the de-merger help the steel firms? Do they have the technological strength for operating these mines, especially the underground ones, most of which are in the BCCL zone? They do not mind spending crores of rupees for importing coking coal, but shy away from investing money to set up washeries back home,” CIL chairman S Narsing Rao told The Indian Express.
BCCL CMD Tapas
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