MSTC (Metal Scrap Trade Corporation Limited) CMD Surinder Kumar Gupta has said that 132 coal mines will be auctioned this month under the sixth installment in Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and other states.
MSTC under the Ministry of Steel conducts e-auction of various materials and minerals and mines. He told the media that this would be the sixth tranche of auction under which a total of 141 blocks including 132 coal and nine lignite mines would be put up for bid.
The CMD clarified that MSTC conducts auction only as per the list of coal mines and relevant notifications provided by the Ministry of Coal. Along with this, he has also suggested the bidders to read all the notifications related to the bid.
He said, “MSTC is not involved in the policy making process in any way. As per the provision provided by the Ministry of Coal, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) order dated 27.2.2020 has been uploaded on the auction portal. All Bidders are suggested to go through all the notifications uploaded in our portal including the NGT order.”
Gupta said that there are 133 mines in the sixth installment and eight unsold mines of the fifth installment have also been added in this round. As per the MSTC notification, the mines to be auctioned under the sixth installment are spread over the states of Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Telangana, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. Out of 141 blocks, 68 are partially discovered mines and the remaining 73 are discovered mines.
In the fifth phase, 109 mines were put up for auction, of which only eight were sold. Last month, Union Coal and Mines Minister Pralhad Joshi had said that out of 99 coal blocks put on the block in the fourth round of auction, only eight blocks have been successfully auctioned.
