127 coal blocks will be privatised: Minister

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, NOV. 28. The Union Minister of State for Coal and Mines, Mr. Ravi Shankar Prasad, on Wednesday said that 127 of the 250 coal blocks would be given to the private sector for exploitation of coal deposits through an amendment to the Coal India Act, 1973.

Mr. Prasad, who was here to participate in the convention of the Confederation of Indian Industry, told presspersons that the Bill was before Parliament.

However, he made it clear that neither the other 123 coal blocks, where Coal India was conducting mining operations, nor Coal India, would be privatised.

The 127 blocks, which were untouched by the company, would be thrown open to the private sector, he added.

This, he said, would bring in investment and the much- needed competitiveness in the coal sector.

Three loss-making subsidiaries - CCL at Ranchi, BCCL at Dhanbad and ECL at Asansol in West Bengal - would be restructured as they could be turned around.

Of the three, two would be taken up on priority, he added.

Commending the Karnataka Power Corporation for paying its bills to Coal India regularly, the Minister said that Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar should emulate Karnataka.

These States owed Rs.6,000 crore of which they had agreed to pay Rs.4,000 crore.

On Kudremukh Iron Ore Company, Mr. Prasad said the Union Government was contemplating to renew the lease by 20 years.

But it would have a discussion on the issue before taking a decision.

The State Government had a proposal to renew the lease for five years, he pointed out.

Mr. Prasad said that his Ministry had cleared 70 FDI proposals for exploitation of minerals worth Rs. 3,900 crore.

The Centre had delegated powers to the States to issue licences to conduct reconnaissance survey of mineral deposits. So far, 127 licences had been issued.

The mineral-rich Jharkhand had issued only one licence while Chhatisgarh had issued none.

Rajasthan and Karnataka had issued 68 and 24 licences respectively, he said and urged the latter to issue more licences.

The Geological Survey of India, which had conducted an airborne survey of gold and diamond deposits in the country, had detected gold deposits at Ajjanahalli in Chitradurga and Uti and Hirabudni near Hatti in Raichur District. They were already in operation.

Similarly, kimberlite pipes, which contained diamond, had been detected in Gulbarga and Raichur districts.

One multi-national company had been permitted to explore for diamonds. He said that 32 micro diamond streams had been found in the State.

On Bharat Gold Mines Limited, the Minister said it was an unviable unit and the accumulated losses amounted to Rs. 557 crore.

The winding-up operations had started. However, this had been stayed by the High Court.

POTO

Mr. Prasad, who is also a senior advocate in New Delhi, said that without the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO), foreign terrorists, who had killed more than 70,000 people including security personnel in the country, could not be nabbed and punished.

Information, obtained from interception, could be used as legal evidence.

Refuting the argument of the Opposition leaders that they had not been consulted before the promulgation of POTO, he said the State governments had been informed about it and many of them, including West Bengal, had agreed to it.

In fact, the West Bengal Chief Minister, Mr. Buddadeb Bhattacharya, had informed the Assembly that he would bring in similar legislation.

But the senior CPI(M) leader, Mr. Harikishan Singh Surjeet, had prevailed upon him not to do so.

An important feature of POTO, he said, was that police, who misused it, could be prosecuted, and the victims could claim compensation from the government.

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