By Anurjay Dhal
BHUBANESWAR: Technical Bids opened for Auction of Coal Mines for Sale of Coal. 76 Bids, JSPL, EMIL, Adani among top bidders for 38 Coal Blocks put for Commercial Auction.Technical Bids comprising of online and offline bid documents as a part of the auction process of 38 coal mines, were opened today i.e. September 30, 2020, 10:00am onwards in New Delhi, in the presence of the bidders. Bidders were provided with the option of joining the meeting in-person or virtually. The auction process of 38 coal mines for sale of coal was launched by Ministry of Coal on June 18, 2020. The last date of submission of technical bid was 2:00 pm on September 29, 2020.
The maximum number of eight bids each were received for Gare Palma IV/7 block in Chattisgarh and Gotitoria (East) & Gotitoria (West) in Madhya Pradesh respectively.Despite having the world’s fourth largest coal reserves, India imports around 235 mt of coal, of which around 135 mt valued at Rs1,71,000 crore could have been met from domestic supply.
The online bids were decrypted and opened electronically in the presence of the bidders. Subsequently, sealed envelopes containing offline bid documents were also opened in the presence of bidders. Entire process was displayed on the screen for the bidders. A total of 76 bids have been received for 23 coal mines. Two or more bids have been received for 19 coal mines.: The bids will be evaluated by a multi-disciplinary Technical Evaluation Committee and Technically Qualified Bidders would be shortlisted for participation in the electronic auction to be conducted on MSTC portal from October 19, 2020.
The bidders are The Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation Limited for 4, Adani Power Resources Limited for 1, Adicorp Enterprises Pvt Ltd 1, Agarwal Mining Pvt Ltd 1, Alankar Tradelinks Pvt. Limited 1, Adani Enterprises Limited 7, Aurobindo Reality & Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd 4, Bharat Aluminium Company Limited 1Bansal Construction Works Pvt Ltd 1, Bhupati Mining Pvt. Limited 1, Boulder Stone Mart Pvt. Ltd 1, Chendipada Collieries Pvt. Ltd 1, Chowgule and Company Pvt. Ltd 2, Cuprum Bagrodia Ltd 1, DB Power Ltd 1, Dilip Buildcon Ltd 1 EMIL Mines & Minerals Resources Ltd 4, Everdeliver Logistics Pvt. Limited 1 Fairmine Carbon Pvt. Ltd 1, Gangaramchak Mining Pvt. Ltd 1 , Hindalco Industries Ltd 5, India Coke and Power Pvt Ltd 2, Inspire Construction and Coal Pvt. Ltd 1, Jindal Power Limited 2, Jindal Steel & Power Limited 2 , JMS Mining Pvt. Ltd 5, JSW Steel Limited 1, Mahavir Clean Fuel Mining Pvt. Ltd 1 NALCO 1, ND Pharma Private Limited 1, Net Energy Pvt Ltd 1, Nilkanth Coal Mining Pvt Ltd 1, Nuvoco Vistas Corp. Ltd 1, Refex Industries Ltd 1, Saraf Trading Comp. Pvt. Ltd 1, Sarda Energy & Mineral Ltd 3, Shri Jai Baba Casting Pvt. Ltd 1, Stratatech Mineral Resources Pvt Ltd 3, Sunflag Iron & Steel Comp. Ltd 2, Vedanta Limited 3, Welspun Steel Limited 1, Yazdani International Pvt. Ltd 1.
The 9 mines blocks including Chendipada I, Chendipada II, Machhakata, Mahanadi, Radhikapur (East), Radhikapur (West), Brahmanbil & Kardabahal, Kuraloi (A) North, and Phuljhari (East & West) were put for auction in Odisha. Most of these Blocks belongs Angul-Talcher coal Belt, close to Satkosia and Similipal Tiger Reserves.
The Naveen Patnaik led Government in Odisha, was expecting to get near about Rs 10,648 crore from 9 Coal Blocks of the total 38 put for auction for commercial coal mining. Of the 9 blocks. fierce bidding for Odisha’s Chendipada (40 MTPA) and Macchakatta (30 MTPA) blocks is expected along with Chhattisgarh’s Gare Pelma IV/1 (6 MTPA) coal mine, sources said.
The present auction of 38 coal blocks will destroy lakhs of acres of forest and agricultural land in Odisha, Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Maharastra. In Angul and Jharsuguda districts 33,000 acres of forest and agricultural land will be diverted and the mining activities will pollute and create water scarcity in river Brahmani which has been already vulnerable to industrial and mining activities.
