"The committee will work toward pooling of international and domestic coal prices so that the cost of production does not rise... as international coal is expensive and also domestic coal is not sufficient for the plants," a senior Power Ministry official said.
The Central Bureau of Investigation and the Centre were at loggerheads on the coalgate scam in the Supreme Court on Tuesday with the agency pointing out irregularities in the coal block allocation during the United Progressive Alliance-I tenure and the government vehemently refuting the allegations.
A bench headed by Chief Justice H L Dattu said, the apex court had granted six months' time to wind up their operations and the companies cannot be restrained from excavating coal during this period.
Since the court had earlier questioned distribution of mining rights through the screening committee route, experts say the solution worked out would be weighed on the basis of legality.
Will the Supreme Court take note of the case and ensure a respected civil servant is not punished for being in office at the wrong time?
India plans to double coal production by 2020
The apex court had observed that the allocation was arbitrary, illegal, and resulted in unfair distribution of national wealth.
Eleven mine workers were killed because of carbon monoxide poisoning in a coal mine in northern China. They died after an air compressor caught fire inside the mine in north China's Hebei Province, local authorities said on Friday.
Minster of State in the Prime Minister's Office V Narayansami today said Centre is examining demands for including coal block allocations made during national Democratic Alliance rule within purview of Central Buerau of Investigation probe.
The government on Tuesday advised investors to stay put with Coal India Ltd to multiply their fortunes and compared the strengths of the company with gold, which is considered the best long-term bet to create wealth.
The Opposition on Monday vociferously raised in the Rajya Sabha the issue of crucial files of the coal ministry going missing, alleging that it was a conspiracy to save Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the multi-crore-coal block allocation scam being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
The Central Bureau of Investigation will question at least two former officials of the Prime Minister's Office who were involved in the processing of the file related to coal block allocation to Hindalco.
Making a stinging criticism of the Central Bureau of Investigation and senior officials of the coal ministry and the Prime Minister's Office, the Supreme Court on Wednesday hauled them up for changing the "heart" of the coal-gate probe report but appeared to have given a breather for Law Minister Ashwani Kumar and the government for the time being.
So far, CBI's investigations into the coal scam are highly superficial and limited to small fishes. It is unlikely to go deeper in the political connections, a source tells rediff.com
The company scrapped a proposal to import coal this year as it dipped into high inventory to meet requirement of power plants.
The plea came up for hearing before a bench comprising Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan.
Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh on Thursday said it was not possible to cancel all the coal block allocations but asserted that no one, even if a minister or a senior official, would be spared if found involved in the coal scam.
The Supreme Court had cancelled 204 such allotments.
After a 10-month probe, the Central Bureau of Investigation has decided to file a closure report in the coal block allocation case involving industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla and former Coal Secretary P C Parakh as the agency could not find any evidence in this matter.
The cement industry consumed around 25.35 million tonnes of coal last year. Of the last year's offtake, 14.18 mt was through coal linkages from Coal India and Singareni Collieries, which in the past had been over 20 mt.
A total of 152 miners were working underground at the Xiaojiawan Coal Mine in the coal-rich Panzhihua city when the blast occurred on Wednesday evening.
PSU, other govt bodies told to explain delay on developing the concessions for years.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday filed its first charge-sheet in a Delhi court in the coal blocks allocation case against Navabharat Power Pvt Ltd for allegedly misrepresenting facts and making "fraudulent" claims to "embellish" its applications to get allotments between 2006 and 2009.
With the country poised to import 142 million tonnes in 2011-12, the development holds significance as a tie-up with railways will help CIL in transporting the imported coal to its destinations.
It is more than certain that coal supply is a major constraint on power production; and power is a major constraint on industrial growth.
Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde on Saturday said the coal issue will soon fade away from public memory as happened in case of Bofors.
A geographic information system analysis released by Greenpeace India -- How Coal Mining is Trashing Tigerland -- determines that coal mining threatens over 1.1 million hectares of forest in just 13 coalfields in Central India.
De-allocation could raise import bill by $3 billion, add to coal shortage.
The court said that it would now consider the CBI's final report
Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party paralyses Parliament on the allocation of coal blocks by the Centre, its own government in Chhattisgarh had come under attack from Comptroller and Auditor General for allocating coal blocks at 'abnormally low' rates that led to a loss of over Rs 1,052 crore.
Former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda, ex-Jharkhand chief secretary Ashok Kumar Basu and six others have been chargesheeted by the Central Bureau of Investigation in a coal block allocation scam case.
Eight investment banks including HSBC and India's ICICI Securities and SBI Capital have submitted bids to manage a 10-per cent stake divestment in state-owned Coal India.
An Adani spokesperson said that it was yet another attempt by activists to delay the project.
The government on Monday said it would decide next month the fate of captive coal blocks lying idle with 82 companies, including ArcelorMittal, Tata Steel and NTPC, who have been issued notices for not developing them within the stipulated time.
The first train on the section where the accident happened in Balasore started its journey at around 10.40 pm on Sunday, 51 hours after the horrific crash which killed 275 people, officials said.
Looking back, it appears that the first signs of the problem were visible when the policy on captive coal mining was formulated almost two decades ago.
Bankers claim they have received good response to the roadshows held abroad for Coal India, IndianOil and PowerGrid.
The government should give the first right of refusal in the ensuing coal mine auction to the companies which lost the blocks in the mass cancellation by the Supreme Court on Wednesday, former Coal Secretary PC Parakh said.
'Inter-ministerial coordination, information on the proposed PSUs, and due diligence are taking longer than expected to conclude the process.'
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