Revenue from coal auction hits Rs 1.57 lakh cr; Ambuja Cement gets Gare-Palma

New Delhi - In another revenue bonanza from the ongoing auction of coal mines, the government on Sunday garnered Rs 5,164 crore from sale of two more mines to Jaypee Cement and Ambuja Cements with cumulative proceeds surging to Rs 1.57 lakh crore. The auction for Ganeshpur mine in Jharkhand, which is meant for the power sector, is still on. On the fourth day of second tranche of ongoing auctions, in fierce biddings that lasted for hours, Ambuja Cement clinched Gare-Palma Sector-IV/8 block in Chhattisgarh while Jaypee Cement Corporation grabbed Mandla-South block in Madhya Pradesh. “Gare Palma IV/8 closes at (Rs) 2,291. Ambuja Cements is highest bidder. Jaypee Cement highest bidder at (Rs) 1,852 for Mandla South,” Coal Secretary Anil Swarup said. These two mines would contribute a cumulative Rs 5,164 crore to the state exchequer. [caption id=“attachment_2142399” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] The government generated a revenue of Rs 1.52 lakh crore until Saturday that included over Rs 1 lakh crore from auction of 19 mines in the first round. Two more coal blocks – Utkal C and Lohari – will be put up for auction when bidding starts tomorrow. The amount of proceeds has been calculated based on extractable reserves and highest bid price. “Auction for Ganeshpur block, which is for power sector, began at 11 am with Rs 100 bid. For Mandla South, the auction began at Rs 1,850 per tonne while for Gare Palma IV/8, it started at Rs 1,675 per tonne,” an official told PTI. During the first three days of the second tranche of coal auction, the government has sold nine mines mostly in eastern states to players such as Adani, Hindalco, JSW and Jindal among others for Rs 43,307 crore. The blocks sold in the second tranche include Dumri, Tara, Nerad Malegaon, Mandakini, Meral, Jitpur, Moitra, Brinda and Sasai. In the second leg of the coal block auction, the government has put up 15 blocks for sale, which are under the ‘ready-for-production’ category. It has sold 12 out of these 15. The auctions follow the Supreme Court’s decision last year to cancel the allocation of 204 coal mines. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had earlier this month said that CAG’s astronomical Rs 1.86 lakh crore loss figure in coal block allocations had raised some doubts initially, but the auction of less than 10 per cent of those mines (19 mines in first tranche) alone has garnered Rs 1.10 lakh crore. Official auditor CAG had earlier said that mines allocation without auction during the UPA period led to loss of staggering Rs 1.86 lakh crore. To grab Gare-Palma Sector-1V/8 in Raipur district of Chhattisgarh, which has an extractable reserves of 11.75 million tonnes (MT), there were eight players, including Jindal Steel and Power which has submitted four separate bids. Jayaswal Neco Industries Ltd, which was previous allottee of this block, was allowed to participate in the bid by a high court order on March 5. “In compliance of the orders passed by the High Court of Delhi on March 05, 2015, the following bidder (Jayaswal Neco) is added to the list of technically qualified bidders for Gare-Palma Sector-IV/8 Coal Mine,” the Coal Ministry has said. Jayaswal Neco has challenged the coal ministry’s decision rejecting the company’s technical bid earlier on the ground that its coal requirement does not meet the extractable reserves of the Gare Palma IV/8 mine. The other bidders in race for the mine included Ambuja Cements Ltd, Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd, Hindalco Industries Ltd, Rungta Mines Ltd, Sesa Sterlite Ltd and Shri Bajrang Power and Ispat Ltd. For Ganeshpur mine in Latehar district of Jharkhand as many 10 players – Adani Power Ltd, Adhunik Power and Natural Resources Ltd, Adani Power Maharashtra Ltd, CESC Ltd, Essar Power Jharkhand Ltd, GMR Chhattisgarh Energy Ltd, Jaiprakash Power Ventures Ltd, Jindal Power Ltd, RKM Powergen Private Ltd and Reliance Geothermal Power Pvt Ltd are in race. PTI