Bhubaneswar: Odisha government has informed the Centre that areas having coal deposits should be allocated "only" to the government companies under the control of host coal bearing state.
In a letter sent to the Director of Union Coal Ministry P Soma Shekhar Reddy, the state government said ?The coal required by the industries located outside the state can be met by the host state government companies. However, priority will be given to the requirement of coal for industries located or proposed to be set up in the host coal bearing state.
The state government`s views on the coal block allotment was made in response to a circular issued by the Centre.
The state government maintained that the area containing coal for allocation to government companies should be identified, taking into consideration that such area should be fairly large in size having sufficient and good quality coal reserves to enable planning high capacity coal projects with world class technology and standards, with matching infrastructural facilities so that the needs of the End Use Plants can be met on a long term basis.
The state government while keeping its views on the draft idelines said that the application should be invited only from the state government companies nominated by the host coal bearing state.
Since the Centre has proposed that the applications received in response to ?the auction by competitive bidding of coal mines rules 2012 shall be considered by a committee, the state government said that a representative from the government of the host coal bearing state should be taken as a member of the committee to be constituted by MOC.
The state government also viewed that it should be informed about the observation of the committee before final decision was taken.
PTI
