By IANS
New Delhi : The ministry of coal will consider allocating 23 coal blocks to non-power infrastructure sectors like steel and cement at its screening committee meeting this December.
Minister of State for Coal Dasari Narayan Rao disclosed this Wednesday in reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Indian Parliament.
The ministry has identified 81 coal blocks with reserves of 20.02 billion tonnes for allocation to public and private sector companies.
Out of these, 27 blocks with 8,536.38 million tonnes of coal reserves have been allocated to public sector undertakings for power generation, the coal ministry said in a statement.
Additionally, 15 coal blocks with 3,622.45 million tonnes of reserves have been allocated to private companies for power generation, the statement added.
Out of 16 coal blocks earmarked for allocation to power sector on the basis of tariff-based competitive bidding, four blocks with 1,857.24 million tonnes of reserves have been allocated to big power projects and two blocks have been allocated to the Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd.