No special consideration to state PSUs in coal block allotment: Coal Secretary Anil Swarup

BHUBANESWAR: Ruling out any special consideration to state PSUs in coal block allotment, Union coal secretary Anil Swarup on Friday said the government has set a target to start production in 34 Schedule-II coal mines by March 31. Swarup was reviewing the progress of augmenting coal production in the country at a meeting here.

Asked to comment on Odisha government's request for according priority to state public sector undertakings while allocating coal mines, Swarup said, "No special consideration for anybody."

Representatives from Chhattishgarh, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Odisha attended the meeting and apprised him of the bottlenecks in their respective states. "Of the coal mines allotment cancelled by Supreme Court, around 10 have already started mining and others are in the process. This will further augment the availability of coal in the country.

" Coal India has achieved record production this year," Swarup said, adding there is surplus availability of coal at power plants this year, with inventories of 25 days as against 5-7 days last year.

He said the Centre wants to ensure that the captive mines too start producing and today's review was to see if there are any problems or bottlenecks. "We will attempt to remove those so that at least the Schedule-II mines can begin production before March 31," he said.