New Delhi / Bhubaneswar: Bid will be once again called for three mines in Odisha being auctioned off for commercial establishments. The three mines are Chhendipada, Chhendipada-2 and Kuraloi (A) North. The three mines were available during the last auction. But the auction had to be canceled as per the rules as fewer than two organizations had tendered. The three mines in Odisha will also be auctioned off in Jharkhand’s Seragarh coal mine. Efforts have been made by the coal ministry to auction off the four mines. The last auction of Radhikapur East and Radhikapur West 6 coal mines in Odisha was auctioned off. ESL Mining has acquired Radhikapur East and Vedanta has acquired Radhikapur West 4. With the successful auction of the two mines, Odisha will get Rs 1,054 crore in revenue per annum. Radhikapur West will receive Rs 542.24 crore a year and Radhikapur East Rs 4.55 crore a year. Last time, 36 mines were auctioned off, while 14 mines received financial bids. The auction success rate was 50%. The success rate of the 10 mines that were previously auctioned was 30%. In the last 10 phases, 114 mines have been auctioned off, of which only 35 have been successfully auctioned. Last time, 42 companies participated in the auction process. Forty of them are private sector organizations. Nalco and Andhra Pradesh Mining Development Corporation also participated in the auction. Of the 18 mines auctioned, 11 were open-cast and 5 were underground, and 3 were a combination of both open-cast and under-ground. A few days later, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik held talks with Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Coal Minister Prahlad Yoshi on the problems and reforms in the mining sector. He briefed the Union Minister on the revision of coal royalties, the reservation of mines for organizations such as the OMC and the raw material problems of industrial enterprises. The coal royalties have not been revised since 2014. The Chief Minister said that the state government has not benefited from the clean energy cessation, which has been increased several times. Chief Minister Shri Patnaik expressed concern over the uncertainty over mining and disruption in Despatch4.
