New Delhi: The Coal Ministry has said it has decided to deallocate a coal block in Odisha jointly allocated to four PSUs, including Meghalaya Mineral Development Corporation, for delays in production.
“The recommendation of IMG (Inter-Ministerial Group) has since been considered and accepted by the government. Accordingly, Mandakini B coal block…is deallocated,” Coal Ministry said in a letter dated December 5 to the PSUs.
The ministry also said in the letter that Bank Guarantee (BG) to the extent of Rs 48.7 crore i.e. 50 per cent of the BG related to the development of the coal block be invoked and deposited with the government.
It may be mentioned that the Meghalaya Government had in October decided to enter into a joint venture to develop a thermal power project from coal sourced out from the Mandakini-B coal block and Power Minister AT Mondal had informed that the State would stand to get around 1,320 MW of power divided into two units (2 x 660 MW) from the proposed project.
Other PSUs to which the coal block was alloted are Assam Mineral Development Corp, Odisha Mining Corp and Tamil Nadu Electricity Board. (PTI)
