By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR: Ministry of Coal on Monday launched Single Window Clearance Portal, a unified platform that facilitates grant of clearances and approvals required for starting a coal mine in India. Union Home Minister Amit Shah launched the portal in presence of Union Minister of Coal & Mines Pralhad Joshi in an event organized in New Delhi to execute agreements with successful bidders of India’s first ever commercial coal mine auctions.
Addressing on the occasion, Union Minister Amit Shah said that the coal sector has crossed an important milestone towards fulfilling the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said that the coal sector would play a key role in achieving the target of a 5 trillion dollar economy. Shri Shah said that for a long time the need was felt to remove the bottlenecks in the coal sector and bring transparency in it, which has been fulfilled during the Modi government.
Shah said that today 19 successful bidders have been allotted mines under the country’s first commercial coal mining auction. This will give the states an estimated revenue of about Rs 6,500 crore per year and will also create more than 70,000 jobs.
Union Minister Joshi announced that the next tranche of commercial mines auction would be launched in January 2021. “We have reformed the coal, and now coal will transform the nation,” Shri Joshi said. “Coal sector has witnessed massive transformation under the dynamic and decisive leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. Single Window Clearance Portal is in the spirit of Minimum Government and Maximum Governance. It would be a milestone for Ease of Doing Business in the Indian Coal Sector,” Shri Joshi added.
Presently, about 19 major approval or clearances are required to be obtained before starting a coal mine in the country. Some of them include approval of Mining Plan and Mine Closure Plan, Grant of Mining Lease, Environment and Forest Clearances, Wild Life Clearance, Clearances related to Safety, Environment, Rehabilitation of project affected families, welfare of workers etc. These approvals or clearances are granted either by central or state governments. In the absence of a unified platform for grant of clearances/approvals for starting of a coal mine, the project proponents are required to approach different administrative ministries and Government departments separately to apply for the requisite clearances leading to delay in operationalization of coal mines.
Now, the complete process shall be facilitated through Single Window Clearance Portal, which will map not only the relevant application formats, but also process flow for grant of approval or clearances. The Mining Plan module of the portal was launched on Monday and the modules related to other clearances will be added in phases.
The Coal Ministry also executed agreements with the 19 successful bidders of India’s first ever commercial mining auctions that includes Vedanta Ltd, Adani Enterprises Ltd, Jindal Power Ltd, Hindalco Industries Ltd along with other successful bidders. The success of India’s first ever commercial mining auctions will pave the way for the Aatmanirbhar Bharat as it will help reduce India’s coal import by about 20%. SBI Capital Markets Limited, sole Transaction Advisor to Ministry of Coal for the Commercial coal mine auction, had devised the methodology and assisted Ministry in conduct of the auction.
“I appeal to all states to facilitate the opening of all these mines so that India could make use of its abundant coal resources. It will help our nation become Aatmanirbhar in Coal,” Shri Joshi said.Notably, States will garner a total revenue of Rs 6,656 crores annually from these successfully auctioned 19 mines. With fierce competition in the auction, the highest premium remained at 66.75% and the average premium at 27%.These mines are spread over 05 states Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand and Maharashtra and have consolidated Peak Rated Capacity (PRC) of 51 Million Tonnes Per Annum (MTPA).
Shri Joshi also said that based on the experience of various mineral rich states and feedback received from the stakeholders, the government will also bring out structural reforms in the mining sector. These reforms will generate huge employment opportunities and increase the production of minerals leading to self-reliance. He further said that the upcoming reforms will unleash the potential of mining sector in India.
