Coal news and updates

CBI lens on Left Front coal block allocation

The Left Front could be in a spot of bother ahead of Lok Sabha polls as a high-level team of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is expected to be in the city next week to investigate the allocation of six coal blocks by the then government to private parties.

These coal blocks were originally allotted to West Bengal Mineral Development and Trading Corporation (WBMTDC), a state PSU, through state dispensation route by the coal ministry. The allotments to private parties though were done through a cabinet decision, but the process had supposedly violated a number of clauses which the CBI is investigating.

It is learnt that the CBI has already quizzed a couple of IAS officers two or three times in the last few months regarding these and a few more allotments. "The IAS officers were called by the CBI in various cases related to coal scam in between July and November 2013 to gather information," a state government official said.

One of them was the industry adviser to the state government when WBMTDC got the mines through state dispensation route. Another person used to coordinate with the coal ministry on behalf of the West Bengal government. The investigation started when Partha Chatterjee was the commerce and industries minister. Chatterjee gathered all the relevant information regarding irregularities in coal allotment during the Left regime. The CBI has been investigating the recommendations for nine coal block allotments during the Left rule for quite some time.

When contacted, Chatterjee welcomed the development. "If a CBI team comes, that is good. In fact, during my tenure I have written to them to do a thorough inquiry into this matter. All this was done during the last regime and we have so far cooperated with the investigating agency," he added.

The six coal blocks that were allotted to WBMTDC are Ichhapur, Kulti, Jagannathpur A, Jagannathpur B, Sitarampur and Trans-Damodar. The combined reserve of these blocks is around 1307 million tonne. Icchapur is the biggest block with 335 million tonne reserve. Icchapur, Kulti and Sitarampur were given for captive use mainly to JSW Bengal Steel. A small portion (20%) of Sitarampur was given to Rashmi Metaliks, a ferro alloy company. Jagannathpur A and Jagannathpur B were allotted to Jai Balaji for their steel project. Trans-Damodar was kept for commercial mining.

A source close to the development said CBI is looking into violation of three clauses in these blocks except for Trans-Damodar. The coal ministry allotted these blocks to WBMTDC under Section 3(a)(1) of Coal Mines Act 1973. It clearly says that the mining part should be undertaken by a central government or by a government company or a corporation managed by central or state government.

However, in these cases WBMTDC entered into mining agreement with JSW Natural Resources of JSW Group for Sitarampur and Ichhapur and Chandi Steel Industries, another private company, for Jagannathpur A and B. As per the agreement, Chandi Steel was supposed to supply coal to Jai Balaji Group.

Secondly, according to the Coal Mines Act 1973, mining should also be done under the supervision of CMPDI, which too was not being followed in the agreement.

The third violation is that these blocks were allotted for commercial purposes and not for captive use of any private company. Apart from Trans-Damodar, in all the other five blocks, this clause was also violated.

Source: The Times of India