While three operational mines in Chhattisgarh had a capacity of 12 million tonnes (mt), six were yet to start production.
If the PM had just chosen to behave as if there wasn't anything wrong about existing systems, he wouldn't have been in such trouble today, says Mihir S Sharma
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.
India, which wants to double its coal output by 2020, in February raised the tax on mining coal to $6 per tonne from $1 in a bid to make it more expensive to consume the dirty fuel
How the 4 ministries have performed
The Central Bureau of Investigation has found no criminality in the allocation of about 60 coal blocks, which are likely to be taken out of the purview of its ongoing probe after taking the Supreme Court's permission.
The government on Friday told the Rajya Sabha that seven files, 173 applications and nine other documents pertaining to coal block allocations were not traceable and efforts were on to locate them
With CBI admitting that it had shared its status report on coal block allocation scam with Law Minister Ashwani Kumar, the Bharatiya Janata Party has demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh alleging that he was using the law ministry to save himself from the probe in the case.
Setting off a political bombshell, Central Bureau of Investigation Director Ranjit Sinha on Friday submitted before the Supreme Court that the agency's status report on coal allocation scam was "shared" with Law Minister Ashwani Kumar "as desired by him" and that senior officials of PMO and Coal ministry had also seen it.
The Trinamool Congress leader had been languishing without a portfolio for over four months.
The government has a two-pronged strategy for e-auction of cancelled coal blocks.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved seven multi-tracking projects of Indian Railways at an estimated cost of around Rs 32,500 crore, Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said. The proposed projects, which will be fully funded by the Centre, will help increase the existing line capacity, smoothen train operations, reduce congestion and facilitate ease of travelling and transportation. The projects covering 35 districts in nine states -- Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal -- will increase the existing network of Indian Railways by 2,339 km and provide employment of an estimated 7.06 crore man-days to the people of the states.
The Prime Minister's Office on Tuesday reviewed the coal supply and power generation scenario as the government looks at ways to defuse the energy crisis being faced by several states.
'Inter-ministerial coordination, information on the proposed PSUs, and due diligence are taking longer than expected to conclude the process.'
Samariya, the first Dalit to have been appointed to the post, was working as information commissioner in the transparency panel Central Information Commission (CIC). A 1985-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Telangana cadre, Samariya retired after serving as the labour and employment secretary in the Government of India. He was sworn in as the information commissioner on November 7, 2020.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday filed a fresh status report in a sealed envelop in the Supreme Court on coal block allocation scam giving details of the ongoing probe in which companies, business tycoons and bureaucrats have come under its scanner.
The latest numbers showed 34 of India's 90 power stations were running on critical coal stocks.
Probe into alleged irregularities in allocation of Talabira-II coal blocks has gained momentum as CBI has started questioning top executives of Aditya Birla Group and were likely to quiz former Coal Secretary P C Parakh next week.
The Union government has threatened to cancel coal block allocations of as many as 17 companies for failure to develop those allotted to them years before. These include big companies such as Tata Iron and Steel, Sterlite Energy, GMR Energy, ArcelorMittal India, Reliance Energy, GVK Power, Lanco Group and Rungta Mines.
Main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday once again targeted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Rajya Sabha on missing files pertaining to coal mines allocation saying the scam is "monumental" and demanded that he clarify on it.
Timely commissioning of over 50,000 Mw of power generation capacity has been jeopardised owing to the environment ministry's latest move to classify India's coal-bearing regions as "go" and "no-go" areas. This comes at a time when the country is striving to bridge the widening gap in the demand and supply of electricity.
The Supreme Court order has created a new legal framework for coal mining by ruling that only the Union government and its entities can do it.
Faced with one setback after another in expanding the scope of mining in the country, almost all the major miners of the world have wound down their operations in India.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday said huge investment made by companies in coal blocks without getting clearance cannot be a ground for not cancelling licences and asked the Centre to respond whether it intends to de-allocate such allocations.
The special court has asked the Central Bureau of Investigation if the then coal minister was examined by it in a coal scam case involving Kumar Mangalam Birla and others.
Power generating companies (gencos) that use imported coal to produce electricity, may find it difficult to switch on their idle units immediately in the wake of high fuel costs, several players have told Business Standard. Recently, the Union power ministry had invoked Section 11 of the Electricity Act mandating all imported coal-based plants to generate power at full capacity. However, some generating companies that use imported coal, argue that it is simply unviable for them to produce power when the price of coal in the international market is high, while the per-unit price of power has been capped at Rs 12 per unit on the domestic power exchange.
Shares in Jindal Steel and Power Ltd were heading towards their biggest daily loss in almost two years on Monday.
Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal on Thursday said mining should be allowed in 90 per cent of the areas classified as no-mining zones by the Environment Ministry and a proposal will be tabled before Cabinet soon, after ascertaining the views of different ministries.
Any delay in passing the coal bill may cause a crisis in the coal sector which would also affect the power sector.
The statement comes in the wake of reports that warned of power crisis looming large due to the coal shortage in the country.
Earlier this year, the Union Cabinet gave the management of state-run companies the freedom to decide on divesting their subsidiaries. However, the very next day a meeting was held at the top level of the Government of India, for the presentation of proposals for more autonomy for state-run companies. Interestingly, no chiefs of any of these companies were invited. It is a problem that will stare the government in the face with the state-owned banks too, as talks have again begun for inviting strategic investments in these companies.
For Swarup, the job would not be just challenging but also tricky, given the negativity attached to the sector.
Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) is India's largest engineering and manufacturing enterprise, operating across energy, industry, and infrastructure sectors. The investment path for the stock is based on a large order backlog, continued strong order inflows, and rising power demand, which should push demand for BHEL's equipment and services. BHEL has historically held over 70 per cent market share in power projects.
Bankers claim they have received good response to the roadshows held abroad for Coal India, IndianOil and PowerGrid.
Non-mineral-rich states will benefit from tariff concessions.
The government has fixed an indicative value for Delhi's iconic 'The Ashok' hotel at Rs 7,409 crore under the national monetisation programme, according to sources. The Ashok and the adjacent hotel Samrat are among the eight India Tourism Development Corp assets listed under the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman last year. The sources said investor consultation has already been undertaken and a cabinet note for the sale of the sprawling 25-acre property in the heart of the national capital is under consideration.
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Delayed clearances for coal blocks, as well as companies' own failure in developing mines, appear to have had a financial implication of Rs 1.46 lakh crore (Rs 1.46 trillion) for the country.
Though the current National Democratic Alliance government has not endorsed the figure, it has not even repudiated it.
She lashed out at the BJP and Leader of Opposition in West Bengal assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, for "threatening" Trinamool Congress leaders with arrests by the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Enforcement Directorate.
With deficient monsoon reducing hydropower generation in the country by around 40 per cent, the power ministry has started stressing more on power from coal and natural gas.
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