Coal auctions to kickstart investment cycle: Piyush Goyal

NEW DELHI: Elated over the passage of crucial coal bill in Parliament yesterday, Union Minister Piyush Goyal has said auction of natural resources will kickstart economy and create millions of jobs.

Extending special thanks to former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee for "unwavering support" in passage of Bill in the Upper House where the ruling coalition is short of numbers, Goyal said today that " coal auctions will also kickstart the investment cycle and make the Indian economy more competitive".

Parliament yesterday approved the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill, 2015 which form part of NDA government's reforms agenda, in the nick of time as it was the last day of the first half of Budget Session and the ordinance on this issue was to lapse on April 5.

The 'Make in India' programme will receive an impetus and millions of jobs will be created, Goyal said in Facebook post adding, it will also assuage the concerns of bank NPAs and cheaper power will be available to people 24X7.

Terming the passage of bill as victory of honesty and transparency over corruption and discretion, Goyal extended thanks to parliamentarians and political parties.

"Special thanks to ex TN CM Amma and B CM Mamata Didi for their unwavering support. Also thank CM of Odisha Naveen Patnaik for his cooperation and valuable suggestions. I would be remiss if I did not thank CM of Andhra Pradesh Chandrababu Naidu and his team for their support and inputs," he said.

His post also mentioned thanks to MPs from Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) and Telangana Rashtra Samiti besides Sharad Pawar and all NCP MPs in addition to BSP supremo Mayawati and all BSP, SP, PDP MPs among others who supported the bill.

Goyal said that the only opposition to the bills came from the political parties, which were "outrightly rejected by people -- the Congress, DMK and the Left".

He said the government initiated the e-auctions within 4 months of Supreme Court's decision to cancel the allocations of 204 coal mines in the last week of September 2014.

Taking a dig at the UPA, he said it had announced in 2004 to auction blocks but could not fulfill the promise even in 10 years while Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a short span "initiated a fair and transparent e-bidding process."