Mining at Goa government`s coal block to begin within a year

Panaji: Coal mining at the block allotted to the Goa government in Chhattisgarh will begin within a year, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar told reporters here on Thursday. Parrikar said that the union government has given its approval for floating a tender and fixing an agency to mine the coal from the block allotted to the Goa government.

The state-run Goa Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) has been a nodal agency handling matters at this block, he said. The Goa chief minister said that mining is expected to happen at the block by December end this year or by January 2014. The block which was allotted to the goa government in the year 2009 has a total area of 639 hectares. Parrikar said that the Goa government will vet the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) signed with K S K Energy Venture to generate power from coal. The Goa government is expected to generate 1800 mega watt (MW) of power from this coal block. PTI