New Delhi: Eight public sector companies have submitted requests to surrender 11 non-operational coal mines under an amnesty scheme, Parliament was informed on Monday. Replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi said that till date, the government has received requests for surrender of 11 coal blocks allotted to three Central PSUs and five state PSUs following the policy being issued.
"Ministry of Coal has issued an amnesty scheme in May 2022 granting one-time window to allottee government companies to surrender non-operational coal mines without penalty," Joshi explained. The government had earlier allowed the PSUs to surrender non-operational mines without giving any reason. The government had said that the move would release several coal mines which the PSU allottees were not in a position to develop or were disinterested and could be auctioned as per the auction policy.
It had granted three months' time to the allottee government companies to surrender the coal mines from the date of publication of the approved surrender policy. As of December 2021, 45 out of the 73 mines allotted to PSUs remained non-operational. The delays were due to reasons beyond the control of allottees, for example, law and order issues; enhancement in the area of forest from what was declared earlier; resistance of land-holders against land acquisition; geological surprises in terms of availability of coal resources.
