Coal mine auction: Stalin writes to Modi, says Delta should be excluded

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday urging the Centre to exclude the Delta region from the coal bidding process to protect the interests of the farmers in the region and called it a wasteful exercise as the State government was not consulted.

The Chief Minister's letter stated, "Delta areas should be excluded from the coal bidding process. No approval was obtained from the State government before issuing the notification in this regard and the State government was not even consulted. Unfortunately, the Union Ministry of Coal is acting arbitrarily. Three mining areas in Tamil Nadu -- Sethiathoppu in Cuddalore, Michealpatti in Ariyalur, and Vadaseri in Thanjavur -- should be excluded from the auction due to the presence of valuable farmers' lands and food security of the people."

"It is also emphasized that the State government should be consulted by concerned ministries of the Union government before issuing such public announcements are issued," Stalin added.

All three of these mining blocks fall in the Cauvery Delta area of Tamil Nadu. Michaelpatti is in Udayarpalayam Taluk of Ariyalur district, East of Sethiathope in Bhuvanagiri Taluk of Cuddalore district and Vadaseri is in Orathanadu Taluk of Thanjavur district. Vadaseri and East of Sethiathope fall within the Protected Agricultural Zone under the Tamil Nadu Protected Agriculture Zone Development Act, 2020, while the Michaelpatti Block falls in a major paddy growing area adjoining a very fertile part of the Cauvery Delta.

He further mentioned: "Under Section 4(1) of the Act, "no person shall undertake any new project or new activity specified in the Second Schedule in the protected agricultural zone". The projects covered in the Second Schedule and thus prohibited include "exploration, drilling and extraction of oil and natural gas including coal-bed methane, shale gas and other similar hydrocarbons". The present tender conditions include the exploitation of coal bed methane and hence are covered within the prohibition of the Tamil Nadu Protected Agriculture Zone Development Act, 2020. This implies that even if the tender process is conducted and a successful bidder identified, it would not be possible to take up the mining project. Hence, the auction process is a wasteful exercise in so far as the identified blocks in Tamil Nadu are concerned. Had the State Government been consulted prior to the issue of the notification, these issues could have been clarified and the unnecessary disquiet caused by the issue of the notification for auction could have been avoided."

Last week, the Union government launched the seventh round of commercial coal auctions in a bid to increase the availability of dry fuel in the country. A total of 106 coal mines were put on the block in the latest round of auctions. Of the total mines offered, 61 blocks are partially explored and 45 mines are fully explored. As many as 95 non-coking coal mines, 10 lignite mines and one coking coal mine are being offered in the latest round of auction.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Coal signed agreements for 28 coal mines auctioned under the sixth round of auction. The cumulative PRC (peak rated capacity) of the 28 coal mines auctioned under the previous round is 74 million tonnes per annum (MTPA), and these mines are expected to generate annual revenue of Rs 14,497 crore calculated at PRC of these coal mines. Upon operationalisation, these mines are expected to generate employment for 1 lakh people.

Companies like JSW Cement, Ultratech Cement, Ambuja Cement, and Jindal Power were the successful bidders in the sixth round of auctions.