Centre to help with green nod for 16 coal blocks in Round One.

The Centre will help get green nod for 16 of the 65 blocks to be put under the hammer in the first round and which do not have environment clearance.

According to a senior Coal Ministry official, the Government will facilitate clearances for these and 11 more blocks to be allocated to public sector companies. However, it is unlikely that the clearances will be in by the time of the e-auctions, scheduled for March 2015.

The 16 blocks without green clearances have coal reserves of 3.4 billion tonnes. Five of these have been earmarked for non-regulated sectors such as steel and cement and the others for the power sector.

HBL