Power firms seek fast auction of coal mines.

The fuel-starved power industry has sought early auction of the 24 de-allocated coal blocks, which they feel can shrink the 120 million tonnes supply gap significantly.

At optimised production level, these mines can produce 70 to 80 million tonnes.

Industry officials say the government can largely address the existing shortage by prioritising auction of the de-allocated mines and allocating 54 new coal blocks.

This should be followed by development of rail and transport linkages to ease supply-side bottlenecks.

In 2012-13, the government de-allocated about 30 captive coal blocks that had been awarded to Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL), Tata Power, Arcelor Mittal, Sterlite Industries and others, as they failed to start production in five years. Six of them were later returned to the firms.

Ravi Uppal, managing director of JSPL, said the government should auction all the de-allocated mines where the owners have not gone for litigation. 'We all have the right to participate in the auction of new and the de-allocated mines,' he said.

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