Under pressure from the Supreme Court to take action against undeveloped blocks and also facing the problem of poor production of the dry fuel, the Coal Ministry has convened a meeting of its inter-ministerial panel on February 25 where 10 blocks including those belonging to Tata Steel, Essar Power and Jindal Steel and Power ltd (JSPl) - which are yet to obtain Stage-II Forest Clearance (FC) - are to be scrutinised and even face the possibility of cancellation.
After being pulled up by the Supreme Court last month over inaction on 61 coal blocks where no mining activity had been undertaken by respective owners, the Government went into fast track and expedited action against these reserves which led to de-allocation of 31 blocks. These were blocks which had not even received preliminary forest clearance (Stage-I FC)
Out of the remaining 30 blocks, the 10 blocks in question are those which have received Stage-I FC but are awaiting Stage-II FC (which is the final clearance, after which they can apply for mining lease). These are, Ganeshpur coal block situated in Jharkhand held jointly by Tata Steel and Adhunik Thermal Energy ltd; Rohne coal block in Jharkhand - jointly allocated to JSW Steel and Bhushan Power and Steel ltd; Jitpur coal blocks in Jharkhand - allocated to Jindal Steel and Power ltd (JSPl); Brinda and Sasai coal block in Jharkhand - allocated to Abhijeet Infrastructure ltd; Mahan coal block in Madhya Pradesh jointly allocated to Essar Power ltd and Hindalco Industries ltd; Durgapur II/Sarya block held by DB Power ltd which is located in Chhattisgarh; lohari block situated in Jharkhand held by Usha Martin; Dumri block in Jharkhand held by Nilachal Iron & Power Generation and Bajrang Ispat Pvt ltd; and Moitra block again located in Jharkhand which is owned by Jayaswal Neco ltd.
The thinking within the Coal Ministry is that when these blocks have already been given Stage-I FC then why was there delay on their part in getting the Stage-II FC. Considering the fact that it is the final hurdle prior to seeking mining lease, the ministry is of the view that the block holders should have expedited the process of seeking Stage-II FC.
In fact the urgency being shown by the Coal Ministry also emanates from the fact that as per the notice sent by it to all the 61 block holders (after the Supreme Court asked it on January 9, 2014 as to what action was being taken against these entities), it was specifically mentioned that decision was to be taken regarding those block holders which are awaiting Stage-II FC, within six weeks.
As the notice was sent to the block owners on January 15, 2014, the six weeks deadline comes to an end on February 26. Therefore the meeting of the Coal Ministry's Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) has been convened on February 25 and in fact Coal Secretary S K Srivastava earlier this month had written to his counterpart in the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) V Rajagopalan, seeking his ministry's views to ascertain whether the Stage-II FC for the 10 aforementioned blocks will be forthcoming within a reasonable time period.
The MoEF's response was sought by the Coal Ministry by February 22 (Saturday). Though it could not be ascertained whether the inputs had reached or not, the fate of these 10 blocks hangs in balance and would largely depend on MoEF's comments. At the same time the inputs which the block holders will provide to the IMG during the February 25 meeting, would also be taken into consideration before deciding on the fate of these blocks. The IMG is headed by Additional Secretary in the Coal Ministry, A K Dubey and consists of representatives from various related ministries like Steel and Power.