Modi govt cancels allocation of six coal blocks in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Odisha

The coal ministry on Friday cancelled allocations of six blocks with state-run power generation companies of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Maharashtra. These coal blocks, with geological reserve of around four billion tonne, had been allocated to the states in the 2007-10 period to serve as fuel reserves for future power generation projects. However, none of these power projects saw the light of the day and no significant development has been made to operationalise these mines, leading to the ministry de-allocating the coal blocks.

While Jharkhand lost the Moury (225.4 million tonne reserve) and Kerandari BC blocks (916.5 MT), the Bhivkund mine (100MT) has been taken away from Maharashtra. The Pindrakhi (421.5 MT) and Puta Parogia (629.2 MT) blocks have been de-allocated from Chhattisgarh and Odisha lost the Bankhui (800 MT) block.