The Union Coal Ministry in a letter dated May 30, has de-allocated three coal blocks given to Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation Ltd (APGENCO) in 2007 on account of delay in the development of the blocks — Ansettipalli, Punukula-Chilka and Pengedappa.
The Ministry said that one of the conditions of allocation was that coal production from the captive blocks would commence in 36 months in the case of an open cast mine and in 48 months in the case of an underground mine. Additional time could also be considered for blocks in forest land. APGENCO was allocated the blocks between February and May 2007 for meeting its coal requirements for captive use in its own specified end-use projects.
As per laid down conditions, the targeted date of coal production for these blocks were on August 20, 2010 and November 11, 2010 but there has been no significant progress in this respect, beyond submission of bank guarantee, despite several review meetings, the letter said.
The Ministry held the view that the company was not serious about the timely development of the block and almost all the milestones have been missed. As such it was decided to issue a show cause notice and then proceed to de-allocate the block.
