Competitive bidding for captive coal blocks: Most states support move, asserts coal min

The Ministry of Coal has claimed that contrary to several assertions to the otherwise, most states of the country support its move to introduce auctioning out of captive coal and lignite blocks. According to the MoC, the concerns expressed by the various state governments are a thing of the past, and have been taken care of in the latest draft of the proposed bill. The coal ministry has now included the requirement for all bidders to commit to fully comply with the requirements of either the National Policy on Resettlement and Rehabilitation or the relevant state Policy, whichever is more beneficial to the project affected families.

Bidders will also have to sign a binding agreement towards undertaking a community welfare and peripheral area development in conformity with the national or state policies on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The commitment may be in terms of a percentage, not less than 5%, of net profits to be utilized for this purpose.The process of obtaining commitments from bidders on resettlement and rehabilitation and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) will be clearly defined in the bid documents.