Responding to Maharashtra’s objection, the Centre has decided not to put up the Bander mine for commercial coal auctions.
“We are withdrawing the Bander mine in Maharashtra, which comes in an eco-sensitive zone,” Union coal minister Pralhad Joshi told FE. Also, the government is considering to replace four mines with 20 million tonne per annum (MTPA) capacity in Chhattisgarh at the state government’s request.
“In the spirit of co-operative federalism we want to take all state governments into confidence before taking action,” Joshi added, pointing out that “before doing this exercise, eight consultation rounds had taken place with the state government officials, including Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra”.
