Producing urea using natural gas as coal supply hampered: NFL

The National Fertilizers Limited (NFL), a Government of India undertaking, under administrative control of Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, has continued urea production at its plants in Punjab, and also supplied fertilizers to farmers even during the ongoing “rail roko” stir in state. A release issued by the company said it produces around 10 lakh […]

Double tracking work in Goa ‘misconstrued’ as part of coal corridor: Railways

After double tracking work in Goa’s Chandor was stalled due to citizen protests, the South Western Railways (SWR) has said that civic society had “misconstrued” the tracks as being coal tracks. The SWR is double tracking a 342-km “critical” railway link between Karnataka’s Hospet and Goa’s Vasco. While only the last 10-km stretch in Karnataka […]

Despite red flags, green nod for coal mining, new blocks put on auction

DESPITE A CLEAR order by the National Commission of Scheduled Tribes (NCST) to defer public hearings, and a study by Indian Council of Medical Research that points to adverse impact of coal mining on health of tribals, the Chhattisgarh government and the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF & CC), facilitated the […]

Coal block auctions: Prahlad Joshi urges states to support winning bidders

Union Coal Minister Prahlad Joshi on Monday said the first auction of coal blocks for commercial use had been successful and called on state governments to support and cooperate with successful bidders. A total of 19 coal blocks across Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Odisha with total geological reserves of 3,069 million tonnes of […]

Auctions for commercial coal mining: Conservative bidding in phase 1; low revenue sharing welcomed

The first phase of auction of coal blocks for commercial use witnessed conservative bidding from industry players due to the type of blocks on offer and potential issues around land acquisitions and forest clearances, according to experts. Auctions of 18 coal blocks for commercial use have been completed, with experts noting that the revenue share […]

Commercial coal mining auctions — Strong competition on Day 1: Vedanta bid for Odisha mine highest

The first auction of coal blocks for commercial mining was completed on Monday, with five mines going under the hammer. Vedanta Resources emerged as the highest bidder for Odisha’s Radhikapur West coal mine, offering 21 per cent revenue share for the mine, which has estimated reserves of 312 million tonnes of coal with a peak […]