Wednesday, 02 Nov 2011
ET reported that faced with severe coal shortage and closure of power plants, the government plans to cancel coal blocks allotted to companies that are selling the scarce resource in the black market or indulging in illegal mining.
Mr Sriprakash Jaiswal coal minister said that "Coal blocks have to operate under the law of the land, which does not permit excess mining, diversion or selling of coal. Whosoever indulges in such activities would be punished."
As per report, the government is probing alleged malpractices by various companies and has initiated action against Prakash Industries, which has interests in steel, power and mines.
An inter ministerial panel said Prakash Industries overstated capacity of its sponge iron unit at Champa in Chhattisgarh to secure coal blocks. The panel report said coal production from Chotia mine allotted to the company was higher than the required amount of coal as per government norms. The Chotia block of Prakash Industries is the only operational mine in the Hasdeo Arand coal belt. The coal ministry on October 4 decided that the company would not be allotted the requested Vijay Central and Urtan coal blocks. Prakash has the moved Chhattisgarh High Court against the report.
A ministry official said the ministry was waiting for a final report from the Central Bureau of Investigation for further action against the company. The CBI last year filed a case against Prakash Industries for alleged black marketing of coal. The agency had also named a few coal and steel ministry officials in its report.
The agency had alleged that the company diverted 227,000 tonnes of coal to the black market between December 2007 and August 2008. Typically, producing a tonne of sponge iron requires 1.6 tonnes of coal. Besides, the central excise department had slapped a INR 90 crore penalty on the company for excise evasion.
The company denies the charges, saying it is being framed by rivals who had furnished forged documents. The company's director corporate affairs, Mr AK Chaturvedi, said corporate rivals were framing the company. Mr AK Chaturvedi said that "The allegations against us are based on forged documents filed by our rivals. We never said we had a capacity of more than 400,000 tonnes per annum with two kilns. We would achieve 600,000 tonnes per annum in next 15 to 20 days with operationalisation of the third kiln."
Authorities are also scrutinizing the activities of other companies, such as Monnet Ispat & Energy and Sunflag Iron & Steel Company, but have not yet detected any malpractices there.
(Sourced from www.economictimes.indiatimes.com)
ET reported that faced with severe coal shortage and closure of power plants, the government plans to cancel coal blocks allotted to companies that are selling the scarce resource in the black market or indulging in illegal mining.
Mr Sriprakash Jaiswal coal minister said that "Coal blocks have to operate under the law of the land, which does not permit excess mining, diversion or selling of coal. Whosoever indulges in such activities would be punished."
As per report, the government is probing alleged malpractices by various companies and has initiated action against Prakash Industries, which has interests in steel, power and mines.
An inter ministerial panel said Prakash Industries overstated capacity of its sponge iron unit at Champa in Chhattisgarh to secure coal blocks. The panel report said coal production from Chotia mine allotted to the company was higher than the required amount of coal as per government norms. The Chotia block of Prakash Industries is the only operational mine in the Hasdeo Arand coal belt. The coal ministry on October 4 decided that the company would not be allotted the requested Vijay Central and Urtan coal blocks. Prakash has the moved Chhattisgarh High Court against the report.
A ministry official said the ministry was waiting for a final report from the Central Bureau of Investigation for further action against the company. The CBI last year filed a case against Prakash Industries for alleged black marketing of coal. The agency had also named a few coal and steel ministry officials in its report.
The agency had alleged that the company diverted 227,000 tonnes of coal to the black market between December 2007 and August 2008. Typically, producing a tonne of sponge iron requires 1.6 tonnes of coal. Besides, the central excise department had slapped a INR 90 crore penalty on the company for excise evasion.
The company denies the charges, saying it is being framed by rivals who had furnished forged documents. The company's director corporate affairs, Mr AK Chaturvedi, said corporate rivals were framing the company. Mr AK Chaturvedi said that "The allegations against us are based on forged documents filed by our rivals. We never said we had a capacity of more than 400,000 tonnes per annum with two kilns. We would achieve 600,000 tonnes per annum in next 15 to 20 days with operationalisation of the third kiln."
Authorities are also scrutinizing the activities of other companies, such as Monnet Ispat & Energy and Sunflag Iron & Steel Company, but have not yet detected any malpractices there.
(Sourced from www.economictimes.indiatimes.com)
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