The Parliamentary consultative committee attached to the ministry of coal, which met on Wednesday come down heavily on coal block allocation for captive use and demanded investigations into the allotment of coal blocks to Jayaswal Neco Ltd, Adhunik Metaliks Ltd, Usha Martin Ltd and Bhusan Steel & Strips Ltd.
According to sources Member of Parliament Chnadran Shekar Dubey said these entities had been allotted huge coal reserves on captive basis despite the absence of any industries or any utilization of coal till date.
Incidentally all the named units have been allotted coal block with the end use meant for sponge iron. Sources added that most of the allocations pertain to the year 2005 in the states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa.
Dubey pointed out that on the other hand entities like the Kalinga Power Corporation, which needed coal, had their captive mines cancelled even after it was allotted one.
Since 1993, government has allocated 182 captive coal blocks to both private and public players. Under the government policy, coal blocks can be allocated for captive use of iron, steel, power and cement players.
Members of the committee also pointed out several anomalies in the allocation of Parbatpur coal blocks. Electrosteel Castings Ltd will soon start work on a Rs 330-crore captive coal mine project, along with washeries, at Parbatpur coal block in the Jharia belt in Jharkhand.
The meeting was chaired by the Minister of State for Coal Santosh Bagrodia and saw Members discuss and give their suggestions on issues of illegal mining, supply of coal to small and medium industries, upliftment of coal by state agencies, land reclamation at the end of mining process, and more autonomy to Coal India Limited.